Speyeria diana for Robert Thorn

[Charles Gavette]

Clark states in his "Butterflies of Virginia," that the fate of Pieris
virgininesis was similar to S. diana, and was "undoubtedly" due to
deforestation. There is also the theory that deforestation itself gives rise
to disease, that it is related to the emergence of new strains (or not
before discovered strains) of pathogens. Maybe someday we will have a
clearer image of events. I believe that yes, we can wait for diana to
re-appear, yet only because we are not waiting to educate people. If I can
step into, at random, a situation whereby I witness a 36-year-old putting
some money down on a ten-acre parcel of land, then proceed to destroy the
future integrity of his natural spring and naturally-occuring ginseng beds
by bringing in a small land-clearing bulldozer 100 feet above the creek,
crowning the project with the statement that to help pay the land payments
he will graze cattle on the spot......then I shudder to think of what is
going on collectively and unchecked, as the ignorant apply themselves to the
"frontier."




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