[Pollinator] Study looks at how controlled burning affects rare butterfly

[Matthew Shepherd]

Study looks at how controlled burning affects rare butterfly

 

The Xerces Society released a study today that shows that caution should be
used when applying prescribed fire in rare butterfly habitat.  

 

The mardon skipper (Polites mardon) is a rare butterfly found only in the
Pacific Northwest of the United States of America. Historically, mardon
skippers are thought to have been more widespread and abundant than they
currently are but 150 years of human settlement, livestock grazing, fire
suppression, and invasion of grassland habitat by native and nonnative
vegetation have led to the loss of habitat and butterflies. 

 

Staff from the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the
Xerces Society designed a study to determine the effects of fire on mardon
skippers on Coon Mountain in northern California. In late fall 2008 the U.S.
Forest Service conducted a burn that impacted approximately one third of the
core habitat occupied by the mardon skipper at that site.  

 

Subsequent surveys undertaken by Xerces Society scientists found
significantly fewer butterflies in the burned areas of Coon Mountain meadows
compared to unburned areas. In all years of the study there were more mardon
skipper butterflies in unburned zones than in burned zones. While the
results do show a steady improvement in areas that were burned, full
recovery had still not taken place five years after the burn event.  This
highlights the need to leave substantial habitat when using fire as a
management tool for mardon skippers, and likely other imperiled butterflies.
Untreated habitat is essential to ensure the remaining butterfly population
is large enough to survive a prolonged (although ideally short-term)
decrease in habitat quality and quantity, and can serve as a source to
repopulate the affected areas. 

 

Fire can be a beneficial management tool to maintain healthy ecosystems.
However, this study shows the importance of using fire and other management
tools with caution. Careful consideration of the life histories of the
resident flora and fauna will help to avoid eliminating the very species
that such management is targeting. 

 

To download a copy of the report, go to:
http://www.xerces.org/study-looks-at-how-controlled-burning-affects-rare-but
terfly/

 

Funding from the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the
Oregon Zoo, and Xerces Society members made this study possible.

 

 

________

 

Matthew Shepherd

Communications Director

 

The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation

Protecting the Life that Sustains Us

 

628 NE Broadway, Ste 200, Portland, OR 97232-1324, USA

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

Tel: (503) 232-6639 ext. 110

Toll free: 1-855-232 6639 ext. 110

Cell: (503) 807-1577

Fax: (503) 233-6794

 

Stay in touch:

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The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation is an international
nonprofit organization that protects wildlife through the conservation of
invertebrates and their habitat.

 

To join the Society, make a donation, or read about our work, please visit
<http://www.xerces.org/> www.xerces.org.

 

 

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