[Pollinator] UW-Eau Claire aids in Karner blue butterfly habitat restoration

[Margo Conner]

UW-Eau Claire aids in Karner blue butterfly habitat restoration

http://www.leadertelegram.com/news/daily_updates/article_471e78b6-442e-11e3-
a9e7-0019bb2963f4.html

By UW-Eau Claire News Bureau | Posted: Sunday, November 3, 2013 10:00 pm 

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.

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.

"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."

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.

The goal of CRP is to reduce soil loss and sedimentation, improve surface
and groundwater quality and create wildlife habitat.

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.

"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."

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.

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.

"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.

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.

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.

"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."

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.

"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.

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.

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.

"Pollinator habitat conservation is more important than ever as populations
of the domestic honey bee and wild pollinators decline worldwide," Kleintjes
Neff said.

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.

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.

As contracts come to an end, landowners will need to decide if they want to
continue with habitat conservation efforts or farm.

"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.

 

 

 

Margo Conner

Communications Assistant

 

The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation

An international non-profit that protects wildlife through

The conservation of invertebrates and their habitat.

 

 <mailto:margo at xerces.org> margo at xerces.org

Phone: 503.232.6639 ext. 104

Office: 628 NE Broadway Suite 200

Portland, OR 97232

 <http://www.xerces.org/> www.xerces.org

 

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