Fender's Blue, Federally listed: J (fwd)

[Neil Jones]

Forwarded message follows:

> From: Mike Quinn <MQnature at TAMU.EDU>
> To: DPLEX-L at UKANS.EDU
> Subject: Fender's Blue, Federally listed: Jan. 25, '00, Oregon
> 
> Per Paul A. Opler:
> 
> Icaricia icariodes fenderi, a subspecies of Boisduval's Blue.
> 
> -------------------
> 
>         <http://www.r1.fws.gov/news/2000-14.htm>
> 
>         U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Pacific Region
> 
>         Oregon State Office
>         2600 S.E. 98th Avenue, Suite 100
>         Portland, Oregon 97266
>         Phone: 503-231-6179
>         Fax: 503-231-6195
> 
>         00-14
>         Contact: Phil Carroll or Barbara Todd- 503-231-6179
>         For Release: January 25, 2000
> 
> U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE LISTS BUTTERFLY AND TWO PLANTS FROM REMNANT
> NATIVE PRAIRIE OF OREGON'S WILLAMETTE VALLEY
> 
>                          Three species which occur on the last small
> patches of native prairie in the Willamette Valley will now be protected
> under the Endangered Species Act. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today
> listed the Fender's blue butterfly and the Willamette daisy as endangered,
> and the Kincaid's lupine as threatened.
> 
>                          A species is listed as endangered when it is in
> danger of becoming extinct in the foreseeable future. A threatened
> designation means a species is likely to become an endangered species
> within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of
> its range.
> 
>                          "Land survey records from the 1850's tell us
> native prairie covered more than a million acres in the Willamette Valley
> before European-American settlement," said Anne Badgley, regional director
> of the Fish and Wildlife Service's six-state Pacific Region. "During the
> past 140 years, an estimated 99 percent of this native prairie has been
> turned into farmland. Listing these three species will help us to protect
> the remnants of the prairie and other species that depend on it."
> 
>                          The Fender's blue butterfly is a small,
> cobalt-blue butterfly that occurs in 32 small sites totaling 408 acres.
> Twenty-four of these populations occupy sites of eight acres or less. Most
> of these populations are in decline, and 19 contain fewer than 50
> individuals. Fourteen sites are on federal, state, county, or city lands.
> The remainder are on private lands.
> 
>                          Once thought to be extinct, the Fender's blue
> butterfly was known only from collections made between 1929 and 1937.
> Despite widespread searches, lack of information on the butterfly's host
> plant prevented researchers from targeting a particular species of lupine
> preferred by the butterfly. Dr. Paul Hammond rediscovered the Fender's blue
> butterfly in 1989 on an uncommon species of lupine at McDonald Forest in
> Benton Count. His discovery of the butterfly allowed the rare host lupine
> to be identified as Kincaid's lupine.
> 
>                          Adult blue butterflies lay their eggs on lupine
> plants during May and June. Newly hatched caterpillars feed and develop on
> the host plant until they transform into adult butterflies the following
> spring. Kincaid's lupine is also found in Willamette Valley dry prairie as
> well as in open oak woodlands from Douglas County, Ore., to Lewis County,
> Wash.
> 
>                          The lupine, listed as threatened by the State of
> Oregon, produces a stalk of blue-purple to yellow flowers and reaches 2 to
> 3 feet in height. It is a long-lived perennial species that can form large
> clones from an extensive system of rhizomes, or underground stems.
> 
>                          Kincaid's lupine occurs at 54 remnant native
> prairie locations totaling 370 acres with 45 of these sites smaller than 8
> acres in size. These locations are predominantly roadside and fence line
> sites where fragments of native prairie have escaped destruction. Twenty
> nine are on federal, state, county, or city lands. The remainder are on
> private lands.
> 
>                          The Willamette daisy, listed as endangered by the
> State of Oregon, is found primarily in wetter, low-lying native prairie in
> the Willamette Valley. The daisy is a low-growing perennial that produces
> pink to pale-blue ray flowers and yellow disk flowers. Historically known
> from locations as far north as the Portland area, the Willamette daisy has
> been reduced to 28 remnant populations on 286 acres. Twenty of these sites
> are smaller than eight acres in size. These sites lie mostly along
> roadsides and marginal areas. Eleven sites are on federal, state, county,
> or city lands while the remainder are on private land.
> 
>                          Of the 88 remnant prairie sites, Fender's blue
> butterfly and Kincaid's lupine occur together at 26 sites. All three
> species occur together in only one prairie remnant.
> 
>                          All three species are threatened by habitat loss
> due to agricultural activities, urban development, roadside maintenance,
> and herbicide application. Since most of the sites where the butterfly and
> two plants occur are small and isolated, a single project, such as
> construction of a driveway or realignment of a fence, is capable of
> destroying an entire population. If the current trend in habitat loss
> continues, the extinction of most of the small populations of all three
> species is anticipated within five years.
> 
>                          The Endangered Species Act does not prohibit
> "take," harm or destruction, of listed plants on private lands, but
> landowners must comply with state laws protecting imperiled plants.
> Consultations with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are necessary for
> private and other landowners only when Federal funding or permits are
> required for activities that may affect listed species.
> 
>                          Native plants are important for their ecological,
> economic, and aesthetic values. Plants play an important role in
> development of crops that resist disease, insects, and drought. At least 25
> percent of prescription drugs contain ingredients derived from plant
> compounds, including medicine used to treat cancer, heart disease, juvenile
> leukemia, and malaria, as well as that used to assist organ transplants.
> Plants are also used to develop natural pesticides.
> 
>                          The service published its final rule to list the
> fender's blue butterfly and willamette daisy as endangered and the
> kincaid's lupine as threatened in today's federal register.
> 
> -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
> Mike Quinn, Texas A&M Univ., Dept. of Entomology
> Biological Control Facility, Rm 122A Ph: 409/845-2893
> 206 Luther Street Apt. D  College Station, TX 77840-6166
> Insect Information: http://insects.tamu.edu/entoweb/
> 
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> 
> 

-- 
Neil Jones- Neil at nwjones.demon.co.uk http://www.nwjones.demon.co.uk/
"At some point I had to stand up and be counted. Who speaks for the
butterflies?" Andrew Lees - The quotation on his memorial at Crymlyn Bog
National Nature Reserve