Science & Outdoors
Society of Ecological Restoration creates Karner Blue butterfly habitat
Science and Outdoors Reporter
email address
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the Society of Ecological Restoration at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, and a private citizen, Mike Oligney, are collaborating to restore habitats for the endangered Karner Blue butterfly. The most recent effort was this past Saturday at the State of Wisconsin Little Plover River Fisheries area.
Oligney grew the initial plants in his garden and currently has four 200 feet rows of lupine. Seeds were harvested from these plants and then extracted from the pods by the Society of Ecological Restoration at their meetings. Oligney’s goal is to establish a corridor of lupine on his property and onto state land across the road. Oligney attended a course conducted by Dave Lentz of the DNR and became a certified Karner Blue butterfly monitor.
Oligney said the Karner Blue butterfly eggs hatch and the larvae moves up the stem to feed on the underside of the lupine leaves. It then develops into the butterfly that only lives seven days during which they mate and the female lays her eggs. This happens twice a summer according to Oligney. The Karner butterflies are poor fliers and if lupine are not nearby or there is a severe winter, the endangered species will die out. However, Oligney said they can be re-established in an area by transporting eggs on lupine plant stems.
Kildow introduced Oligney to Paul Cigan, president of the UW-SP Society of Ecological Restoration. Last fall they came up with a plan to plant lupine seed in fire lines the UW-SP Fire Crew had dug during their annual fire training. The Society of Ecological Restoration planted the seeds and Oligney said about 98 percent of the lupine seeds probably germinated. It was so successful that it was decided to expand the project this year. The DNR had a timber sale at the site recently; the logger finished up only this past week.
Lupine prefers open, sunny, savannah-like habitats. Kildow said lupine follows disturbances. If there is a population of lupine nearby and something like logging disturbs the soil, other lupine will expand into the disturbed area. This could take years of succession, but the Society of Ecological Restoration accomplished it in one day. The Society of Ecological Restoration first removed the logging slash by hand. Then they removed leaves and organic matter down to mineral soil with McLoeds, council rakes and Pulaskis. They sowed the seed about a quarter of an inch deep and about every six to eight inches apart throughout the patches. The patches were marked by stakes in order to find the areas in the spring to monitor the success. The areas were then mapped with a GPS unit which will be turned into a map and given to Kildow.
Kildow explained that the jack pine will eventually grow back and shade out the lupine. However, the lupine seeds from the introduced plants will create a seed bank. Those seeds will remain viable until the next logging rotation, in about 50 years. When the area is opened up again the dormant lupine seeds will re-establish the Karner Blue butterfly habitat.
Paul Cigan said the site is great for university involvement by student organizations because of the visibility it gets from the public. If you want to know more about SER and their projects, contact Paul at pciga971@uwsp.edu.
