"dire straits faced by most of our butterfly fauna"

[Paul Cherubini]

patfoley wrote:
 
> Paul,
> 
> Sometimes conservationsists use the analogy of endangered species as
> canaries in a coal mine. Canaries are chosen because their high
> metabolism makes them succumb _before_ the miner does.
> 
> Monarchs, Cabbage Whites and other weedy species are not good canaries.
> We are talking weevils in the coal mine, garden slugs in the coal mine.
> If Art Shapiro is right, that even weedy butterfly species are not
> looking good in the Central Valley, then we are past the canary stage.
> Time to see what is going on. 

Pat,  if Art Shapiro and other investigators were awarded millions 
of dollars of grant money to determine why "even weedy 
butterfly species are not looking good" in the Central Valley, 
of California, then what?

Consider this recent aerial photo of the landscape 
immediately south of Art Shapiro's West Sacramento, Calif. study site:
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k75/4af/sac.jpg 
With urbanization replacing farmland on a scale as massive as
shown in this photo, is it even remotely conceivable that 
Shapiro or anyone else could come up with effective and 
affordable mitigation measures?  

Paul Cherubini
El Dorado, Calif.

 
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