Letters & Opinion
The inside of a wild blue lupin pod which the Karner Blue butterfly survives on.
Festival held in hopes of saving a Wisconsin endangered species
The Pointer
kbeck271@uwsp.edu
A small butterfly, a big festival. This weekend, about 100 people gathered at the Little Plover River Fisheries Area for the Karner Blue Rendezvous sponsored by the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point Society of Ecological Restoration. The Karner Blue butterfly, which is about the size of a nickel, is a federally endangered species.
Regarding conservation of the Karner Blue, Wisconsin has a lot to be proud of. According to the Department of Natural Resources, Wisconsin has more Karner Blues than any other place in the world. In fact, the world’s largest population of the butterfly lives just 50 miles away from Stevens Point in the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge.
The Karner Blue, however, still needs our help. In the larval form, the species feeds only on wild blue lupin. This means no lupin, no butterflies. Plus, there are only two hatches of the butterfly per year, with each generation living only three to five days.
In 2007, the Society of Ecological Restoration began a project, sponsored by the DNR, to plant more lupin in the Little Plover River Fisheries Area. Last year, the group began planning a festival to celebrate and raise awareness for the Karner Blue butterfly.
The Karner Blue Rendezvous offered fun for all ages. Activities included arts & crafts, seed sifting and guided nature hikes. The festival also featured live music and local and sustainable foods. Festival goers who participated in the seed sifting received 10 seeds in exchange for their help. “Ten seeds are more valuable than you’d think,” said SER president Tanya Bueter. One pound of lupin seeds costs about $375.
The festival drew community members as well as UWSP students. Troy Adams, who lives adjacent to the property where the festival was taking place, came over to investigate the music from the live band. By the time he left, he was wearing a Karner Blue butterfly button created at the arts and crafts booth and had gone on the 40-minute guided nature hike.
“There are Karner Blue butterflies here, but there’s just a few and they need a lot of help,” said Adams. He plans to do his part by planting the lupin seeds he received at the festival and helping monitor the Karner Blue population.
Jake Pipp, a senior natural resources management student, decided to check out the festival because he wanted to be outside for the day and was looking forward to learning more about the Karner Blue.
Why save the Karner Blue? “It’s all about species diversity. This butterfly is a sign of good habitat,” said Bueter.
If you’d like to help the Karner Blue, planting wild blue lupin is a great first step. Even if you don’t get any Karner Blues munching on your lupin right away, you’ll have a beautiful native flower in your backyard. Plus, the wild lupin is “a piece of our history,” said English professor and Karner Blue butterfly surveyor Dan Dieterich.
