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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>UW-Eau Claire aids in Karner blue butterfly habitat restoration<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><u><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:blue'><a href="http://www.leadertelegram.com/news/daily_updates/article_471e78b6-442e-11e3-a9e7-0019bb2963f4.html">http://www.leadertelegram.com/news/daily_updates/article_471e78b6-442e-11e3-a9e7-0019bb2963f4.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></u></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>By UW-Eau Claire News Bureau | Posted: Sunday, November 3, 2013 10:00 pm </span></b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Farmland owners in two western Wisconsin counties soon will have a new resource to guide them as they consider the next steps in establishing and maintaining habitats to restore endangered Karner blue butterflies and other pollinators in the region.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Paula Kleintjes Neff, a UW-Eau Claire biology professor and entomologist, collaborated with an international conservation organization to produce a handbook for area landowners who are enrolled in a U.S. Department of Agriculture Conservation Reserve Program dedicated to restoring Karner blue habitat.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>"This truly is conservation science," Kleintjes Neff said of the handbook. "In cooperation with the USDA Farm Service Agency and USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service, we are building a bridge between science and management. We are taking what we've learned through our local research and literally putting it into the hands of landowners."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Since 2008, 48 owners of nearly 2,000 acres of privately owned farmland in Eau Claire and Jackson counties have been part of CRP-SAFE (State Acres for Wildlife Enhancement), a federal program that pays landowners an annual fee for retiring marginal agriculture land from crop production. The lands are marginal because they contain highly erodible sandy soils.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The goal of CRP is to reduce soil loss and sedimentation, improve surface and groundwater quality and create wildlife habitat.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The handbook, titled "CRP-SAFE for the Karner Blue Butterfly," includes recommendations on how the lands can be managed to better provide habitat for Karner blues, other pollinators and grassland wildlife species throughout the growing season. Recommendations include strategies for timing the planting of seeds, seed mixes, and mowing or burning to control weeds, Kleintjes Neff said.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>"We're giving additional, practical management advice to local landowners," said Kleintjes Neff, who co-authored the publication with Eric Mader of The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. "We're using the results of our research to help area farmers better conserve pollinator habitat, improve water quality and reduce soil erosion on marginal croplands."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The Karner blue butterfly is a federally listed endangered species and is classified as a species of special concern by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Over the last two decades, Karner blue populations have declined, primarily because of the loss of habitat. Small populations remain in several states, with the largest populations in Wisconsin.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Farmlands enrolled in the CRP-SAFE program are within the historical range of the butterfly, with some falling into areas that the DNR classifies as having "high potential" for Karner recovery, Kleintjes Neff said.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>"CRP-SAFE for the Karner blue is one of the largest acreage efforts nationwide to increase an endangered butterfly's populations on private land," said Kleintjes Neff, who presented information about her project on CRP-SAFE for the Karner blue butterfly during the fifth World Conference on Ecological Restoration earlier this month in Madison.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Landowners who enrolled in the conservation program are required to plant their land with the USDA-approved seed mix, Kleintjes Neff said, noting that landowners include farmers with large farming operations in addition to hobby farmers with an interest in conservation.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>To better understand the success of the plantings already done, Kleintjes Neff and UW-Eau Claire undergraduate students helped monitor several CRP sites as well as nearby native grassland sites containing lupine and Karner blues for comparison. The Western Wisconsin Land Trust also has been involved with lupine surveys.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>"The participants - the landowners and USDA - want to know if what they are doing is working," Kleintjes Neff said. "In our effort to help, we have been documenting changes in the insect and plant community for nearly five years."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The researchers discovered that butterfly diversity and abundance actually has declined on the CRP sites since monitoring began, which is thought to be because of a measurable reduction in the number of native wildflowers and an increase in dominant native grasses, Kleintjes Neff said.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>"We found that additional maintenance and wildflower enhancement to provide blooming flowers for pollinators throughout the season is needed at the sites," Kleintjes Neff said.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>While the number of butterflies has declined and no Karners have been documented on the CRP sites, other pollinators have benefitted from the grasslands and meadows that have been established through the CRP program, Kleintjes Neff said.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The wildflowers provide nectar and pollen for native bees, honey bees, beetles, flies and other insects, she said, adding that native grasses and wildflowers also serve as caterpillar host plants for a variety of butterflies.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>"Pollinator habitat conservation is more important than ever as populations of the domestic honey bee and wild pollinators decline worldwide," Kleintjes Neff said.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The conservation efforts also are helping to enhance habitat for pheasants, deer and other wildlife of interest to people in this region. Native grasses and wildflowers also support rare grassland songbirds, she said.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>The soon-to-be-distributed handbook will arrive in the hands of the landowners at the time when many are about halfway through their 10-year CRP-SAFE contracts, Kleintjes Neff said.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>As contracts come to an end, landowners will need to decide if they want to continue with habitat conservation efforts or farm.<o:p></o:p></span></p><div style='mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in'><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;border:none;padding:0in'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>"We want them to have as much information as possible so they will not only consider how they want to use their land in the years ahead but also how they can continue to benefit pollinators," Kleintjes Neff said.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;border:none;padding:0in'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#595959'>Margo Conner<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#595959'>Communications Assistant<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#595959'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#595959'>The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#595959'>An international non-profit that protects wildlife through<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#595959'>The conservation of invertebrates and their habitat.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#595959'><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p><p class=MsoNormal><u><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#595959'><a href="mailto:margo@xerces.org"><span style='color:#595959'>margo@xerces.org</span></a></span></u><i><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#595959'><o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#595959'>Phone: 503.232.6639 ext. 104<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#595959'>Office: 628 NE Broadway Suite 200<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#595959'>Portland, OR 97232<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#595959'><a href="http://www.xerces.org/"><span style='color:#595959'>www.xerces.org</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>