Miami Blue Butterfly Restoration Project ...Press Release (pr/1)

Sat Feb 9 23:57:22 EST 2002

Greetings:

The following press release was written by Rudy Benavides, one of
MBBRP's PR coordinators. With help by Katy Anderson, C2M's Director
of Environmental Communication's. I thank both for the timely help.
Katy is working with me this weekend applying for grants. 

I am overwhelmed by the offers of assistance, volounteers and
donations for this project. The task force is beginning the education
phase and they need all of our help. Please send this to every media
contact you have and follow through and see that it is printed. We
can get worldwide support... just like that... if we network.

Very soon, I will set up a listserve just for the Project and
Taskforce members.

I also want to inform all that Anne Kilmer is undergoing surgery the
first of the week. Lets think of her in our prayers and meditations.
The Miami Blue needs her. We need her.

Bob Parcelles, Jr.
MBBRP, Director
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PRESS RELEASE

From:
The International Lepidoptera Survey
and The Institute of Ecological and Environmental Studies, Clean
Millennium Movement

MIAMI BLUE BUTTERFLY RESTORATION PROJECT

BUTTERFLY EXPERTS AND AMATEURS FORM COALITION TO SAVE A SMALL SOUTH
FLORIDA BUTTERFLY

 "Rare butterfly may be placed on endangered species list" , Ft.
Myers News-Press

It has been years since the tiny Miami Blue butterfly (Cyclargus
thomasi betunebakeri) was last seen in Dade County, Florida.  The
small butterfly which measures only about a 1/2 inch -  from wingtip
to wingtip - was at one time common throughout South Florida and even
occassionally reported seen in the northern counties of the state. 
Today it is on the brink of extinction and is only found in the
Florida Keys, with considerably great effort.

Florida butterfly researchers believe that the Miami Blue has fallen
by the wayside,  a victim of growth in South Florida where the
replacement of many native plants for exotics has been a common
practice by developers for many years.  In this particular case, the
specific host food plant on which the Miami Blue larva dines, the
weedy Balloon-vine (Cardiospermum sp.), is seldom found anywhere in
South Florida.

But the Miami Blue butterfly is finally getting some help.  The help
is coming from cooperating butterfly experts and ordinary citizens
that are joining together to restore the butterfly's host food plant
and habitat back into the South Florida landscape.  The International
Lepidoptery Survey (TILS) has teamed with Florida Garden Clubs, North
American Butterfly Association (NABA), Master Gardeners, arborists,
landscapers, schools and nature centers - the same coalition that
previously helped restore the Atala butterfly (Eumaeus atala) - to
help bring back the Miami Blue. The coalition will also receive
guidance from scientists such as John Calhoun, Marc Minno, Mark
Salvato, Kurt Johnson, Leroy Koehn, Jeffrey Slotten and others
familiar with the Miami Blue.

Ecologist and endangered species activist Bob Parcelles, from
Pinellas Park, Florida, has assembled and organized the Miami Blue
Butterfly Restoration Project.  As Chairman of the Steering and
Oversight Committee, Bob is responsible for developing and
coordinating  the Miami Blue Butterfly Recovery Plan with federal and
state agencies, and with others involved in the recovery efforts. 

The Recovery plan aims at:

1) Producing educational identifying materials and pictures about
host plants and the Miami Blue to incude other similar looking
butterflies.

2) Establishing points of contact using a select phone number and
email address where sightings may be reported and where volunteers
may register to assist in the project. 

3) Disseminating teaching materials and data-recording forms to
schools, nurseries, botanical gardens, arborists, landscape workers,
and environmental organizations throughout South Florida. 

4) Creating a video pilot project at a local school that demonstrates
techniques for handling the host food vines, the various stages of
the seed pods critical to larval development, and the other
butterflies which may also be seen associated with these plants. 

5) Disseminating videotapes and registering schools and other
organizations that wish to participate in the Miami Blue Recovery
Plan.

6) Setting  up host plant centers near the locations where the Miami
Blue was last seen. Arranging for potted host plants to be grown,
tended and monitored for Miami Blue egg-laying activity. If there is
active egg-laying taking place, allowing a sufficient number of
larvae to mature and emerge on site, and then transferring some stock
to expert rearers and  universities to create a back-up gene pool in
case of disaster. The plant recommended for this project is Balloon
Vine, but Nickerbean and other possible larval host plants, will also
be tried and monitored.

7) Encouraging volunteers to raise Nickerbean and Ballon Vine in pots
and train them to trellises for use in a survey to study the Miami
Blue's preferences of a host plant. 

8) Requesting professional landscapers and arborists familiar with
balloon vine to: a)educate homeowners of its importance to the Miami
Blue's survival, b)gather trimmed vines and seed pods for volunteers
to collect and take to growing sites. c)distribute Miami 
Blue information to homeowners and inform them about vine growing,
training and monitoring. 

8) Training a task force to examine the seedpods of the vines where
the larvae grow. Miami Blue butterfly larvae will be distributed to
appropriate organizations and people working on its restoration. 
Larvae rearing will be conducted in shelters, butterfly houses, and
in other outdoor facilities, all in locations of the butterfly's
normal range, which is thought to extend as far north as Gainesville.

9) Creating and maintaining an ongoing interest in the community by
conducting restoration events sponsored through organizations such as
butterfly gardens, schools, parks, and nature centers. 

10) Coordinating and moderating on-going monitoring and science
studies to determine the efectiveness of the project and create
protocols for future recoveries.

Anne Kilmer, the person who put together a similiar coalition to save
the Atala Butterfly is the Vice Chair--Operations and Task Force
Director, Howard Wolf, the Vice Chair--Support and Liason and John V.
Calhoun, the Vice-Chair--Science round out he Steering & Oversight
Committee's Excom. 

Bob Parcelles says that with a this team, plus the teams of
scientists and the support groups in place they can't miss! In
addition groups, clubs and people are joining the Task Force
directly.

Donations made to the Miami Blue Butterfly Restoration Project may be
mailed to the address below: As an alternative Pay Pal and credit
cards may be used online

TILS Treasurer/MBBRP
126 Wells Road 
Goose Creek SC 29445 

http://www.tils-ttr.org/

When asked about the experiences gained from working on such a 
project, Parcelles said, "Our main focus is on the restoration of the
Miami Blue butterfly, but this project can also
 serve as a blueprint of sorts for other restoration projects in the
state and around the nation."  
----------------------------------------------------------------------
For further information, please contact Bob Parcelles, Jr. Director,
Miami Blue Butterfly Restoration Project. Chairman, Steering and
Oversight Committee, (727) 548-9775, 
or email at: rjparcelles at yahoo.com

http://www.wildlifewebsite.com/miamiblue/

pr/1

**********************************************************************

=====
Bob Parcelles, Jr
Pinellas Park, FL
RJP Associates, C2M-BWPTi
rjparcelles at yahoo.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/naturepotpourri
"Change your thoughts and you change your world."
- Norman Vincent Peale

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