Captive Breeding program begun in Oregon

[Danfosha at aol.com]

THREATENED BUTTERFLIES NETTED FOR CAPTIVE BREEDING

Seven rare Oregon silverspot butterflies were captured at Cascade Head 
Preserve this month and taken from their coastal headland home for a captive 
rearing project. The butterflies, captured by The Nature Conservancy, have 
already started laying eggs at their new home at Lewis and Clark College in 
Portland, Oregon. "After hatching, the young will be maintained in a 
controlled environment to keep them dormant. Next spring the caterpillars 
will be reared and released back to Cascade Head, one of only six locations 
where this subspecies still exists," said Diana Hwang, endangered species 
biologist for the Oregon State office of the USFWS. "This population has 
remained low since declines were first noted there in 1993," Hwang said. 
"Maintaining our known populations is important for the recovery of this 
subspecies." The captive breeding project is expected to continue for three 
years, and expertise gained from the project may be used to help other 
declining butterfly species. The project is just one of the newest components 
of a recovery strategy that focuses on securing and managing known population 
sites. The butterfly was listed as threatened in 1980 due to loss of its 
native coastal grassland habitat. "Captive propagation is an important 
conservation tool, especially when used with measures that include habitat 
conservation and habitat management," said USFWS regional director Anne 
Badgley. 

from -  http://ens.lycos.com/ens/sep99/1999L-09-17-09.html