[leps-talk] Rare butterfly may be placed on endangered species list ..Article

[Ron Gatrelle]

Hey Bob --- Great to see this *in the news*, as they say.  It is also
interesting to see how this is viewed and dealt with by gardeners,
scientists,  conservationists, pragmatists, etc.   This is a really big
world - much bigger than our own individual worlds.  Our readers here all
need to remember that when we come to something like the Miami Blue
Preservation and Restoration Project, all kinds of people are involved
(with differing philosophies, personalities, and area-of-interest or
area-of-expertise tunnel vision).  So that at any given point things may be
said that make another factions say, what's up with this statement or
action.  Media are thrown into the mix too and they are looking at
presentation to a perhaps not to interested audience -- so how to make them
interested/knowledgeable is part of their angle.

In the end (not a good word unless it is a happy one) all the factions much
stay clear of the distractions and stay focused on the objective - this
once frequently encountered butterfly in southern Florida needs all of our
help - or is it helps :-)
Ron Gatrelle


----- Original Message -----
From: "Bob Parcelles,Jr." <rjparcelles at yahoo.com>
To: "LEPSrUS" <LEPSrUS at communities.msn.com>
Cc: <TILS-leps-talk at yahoogroups.com>; "Leps-List" <leps-l at lists.yale.edu>
Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2002 10:46 AM
Subject: [leps-talk] Rare butterfly may be placed on endangered species
list ..Article


> Rare butterfly may be placed on endangered species list
>
> By Pamela Smith Hayford, phayford at news-press.com   Ft.Myers
> News-Press  January 24, 2002
> http://www.news-press.com/news/today/020124blue.html
>
>
> A small blue butterfly - about the size of a quarter, wings
> and all - used to flutter around these parts of Florida
> years ago.
>
> But today the delicate-looking Miami blue may be near
> extinction.
>
>
> The population is so low - only one confirmed colony is
> left - that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering
> putting the Miami blue on the endangered species list and
> it is looking for input.
>
> Finding a Miami blue in Southwest Florida is a rarity, say
> local butterfly enthusiasts.
>
> "I don't know a whole lot about it except that I never
> expect to see one here," said Gayle Edwards, a master gardener
> of four years specializing in butterfly gardens.
>
> The last verified sighting of a Miami blue colony here was
> in Sanibel in 1990, said John Calhoun, a researcher who
> this month finished a study on the Miami blue with two other
> scientists: "The Rise and Fall of Tropical Blues in
> Florida."
>
> "It's been all over, but you can't find them anymore," said
> Mia Mazza, who runs The Butterfly Sanctuary of Naples with
> her husband, Tom.
>
> The Miami blue isn't the only fancy flutterer to fade away.
> The Atalla butterfly has become a rare sighting.
>
> "There will be more. I can see losses of population here in
> Collier County already," Tom Mazza said.
>
> Many people blame development. Some blame mosquitoes
> chemicals.
>
> "Really habitat loss is the main problem," Calhoun said.
>
> Most construction clears away the natural plants and
> replaces them with landscapes of exotics that local wildlife,
> including butterflies, can't eat. No food. No butterflies.
>
> Some developers are doing better, like The Bonita Bay
> Group, Tom Mazza said. They plant natives.
>
> Backyard butterfly gardens are also becoming more popular.
>
> "If everybody could do that, and that's one of the things
> we do, that would give them a source of food and help
> maintain a population that's being destroyed," Tom Mazza said.
>
> Fish and Wildlife Service's Miami blue notice two weeks ago
> sparked the beginning of the Miami Blue Preservation and
> Restoration Project by the Institute of Ecological and
> Environmental Studies.
>
> The program started as a challenge from a Tampa Bay area
> scientist, Bob Parcelles Jr., to colleagues to do something
> about the Miami blue.
>
> "They're going to do plantings and restorations and things
> like that," Parcelles said. "It's going to give us the
> blueprints to monitor other species."
>
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
> - -
>
>
> =====
> 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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