NOTE: This beautiful painting of a Karner Blue butterfly was done for the Ontario Karner Blue Recovery Team, at the request of Dr. Phil Schappert, by Noel Pabalan, a former graduate student of Laurence Packer at York University in Toronto. © 1995, Noel Pabalan. Courtesy of the Ontario Karner Blue Recovery Team c/o Phil Schappert, philjs@mail.utexas.edu
Many thanks to Dr. Phil Schappert (University of Texas) for so generously providing me with the electronic image of Noel Pabalan's painting for use in this article. (I ask that readers respect the copyrights of all images used as indicated.)
Historically, the habitat of the Karner Blues included tens of thousands of acres. Although those regions were not suitable for farming, they have shrunken drastically because of urbanization and industrial development.
Like the beautiful Monarch butterfly, whose caterpillar is solely dependent on the milkweed plant as its food source, the survival of the Karner Blue's caterpillar is totally dependent on the wild lupine for survival of the species. Should the wild lupine ever totally disappear as a larval food source, without a doubt, the Karner Blue butterfly would just as surely forever disappear.
What is Being Done to Help Preserve Karner Blue Habitats?
Non-profit groups, volunteers, lepidopteriests and scientists, government entities, and many others not mentioned in this article have united in the effort to preserve Karner Blue habitats.
Save the Pine Bush is a very active non-profit organization dedicated to saving the Karner Blues' habitat in the Albany Pine Bush region in New York. This region was originally comprised of 40 square miles, with only 2,000 to 3,000 acres now remaining. Although its most famous resident is the rare Karner Blue, it is also unfortunately a very endangered species. Developmental pressures to construct homes and professional buildings threaten to destroy this critical Karner Blue habitat. Save the Pine Bush volunteers are actively involved in their firm commitment to help prevent this threat. A visit to their web site is well worth your time and will provide you with in-depth information about what steps have already been taken in this worthy effort, and what they have planned for the future. Also, the fabulous "virtual tour" of the Albany Pine Bush region on their web site will give you much insight about the necessity of keeping this critical habitat intact so that the Karner Blue butterfly can survive. There, you can also learn how YOU can get involved to help "Save the Pine Bush!"
