Government views Monarch Butterfly Releases as a threat to Western Milkweeds

[Robert Kriegel]

Lepsters,

Monarch migrations, extinction models, satanism, post apocalyptic big bang
. . . Wow this thread is a real roller coaster ride!  Give me a moment to
catch my breath.  Ahhhh, that's better.

Several days ago Chip Taylor asked a very simple question -- Do monarchs
use the sensitive species of milkweeds in the Southwestern U.S. as hosts?
In that post, Chip presented evidence that an endangered milkweed species
in Kansas, Asclepias meadii, is either not or only very rarely used as a
host by monarch larvae.

If monarchs don't use the species in question as hosts or rarely use them
the proposed regulations will not do anything to protect those plants.
Period.   If monarch larvae do feed on the plants but do not kill them or
reduce their long term viability then they are also of no danger to the
plants.  If someone knows the answers to these two questions please speak
up.  

If no one knows the answer then the proposed regulations are based on
political not scientifically based, conservation motives.  Personally, I am
not a fan of commercial butterfly releases at events.  However, if the USDA
is trying to use the endangered species laws to shut down these commercial
enterprises without the scientific evidence to back them up then I believe
their efforts are misguided. 

Bob Kriegel
Bath, MI

P.S.  just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they're not after me . . . right?


 
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