The Daily Barometer
The current endangered situation of the Fender’s blue butterfly has left those concerned with the dwindling population determined to help.
Last Saturday, many students and local community members planted various species of plants at the W.L. Finley Wildlife Reserve for the benefit of the sky-blue butterflies.
People don’t normally associate Oregon with exotic insects, but the Fender’s blue butterfly is one that calls the prairies of Oregon home. Once thought to be extinct, this rare butterfly was rediscovered in 1989 but is now on the Federal Endangered Species list.
This was the third consecutive year that the community came together to help the W.L. Finley Wildlife Reserve, but only the second year that the project was specifically aimed at assisting the Fender’s blue butterfly. The event was put together by John Gaylord of the Audubon Society of Corvallis, working in collaboration with the wildlife reserve.
“It’s believed that Fender’s blue butterflies were here a long time ago, before massive development and agriculture took place,” Gaylord said.
“Generating support for the restoration of the project was easy because everybody universally loves butterflies. So we really haven’t seen any controversy over the project, and I definitely suspect more support being generated in the future.”
Roughly six years ago, when John Gaylord took his position with the Audubon Society, he laid out a 14-point plan for turning the society more “green.” These points are continuously emphasized, especially the vegetation planting portion. This year was an excellent example of his vision at work, with over 100 people coming out to help.
“We had a lot of students from Oregon State coming out to help, primarily from the Geo. Science 300 class, but also from Sigma Alpha Epsilon Greek members,” Gaylord said. “We also had students from Linn-Benton and various parts of Salem come out. Tremendous support was also generated from community individuals.”
Kevin Barton, a volunteer for the Fender blue butterfly project and a student at Oregon State studying computer science said, “I’m getting a lot out of this. While I am doing this for a class, I’m also out here volunteering for my community. It’s a great experience.”
The volunteers planted six various types of vegetation, such as Camas bulbs, wild strawberries and even a species that is currently on the “threatened list” known as Nelson’s checker-mallow. Nelson’s checker-mallow wasn’t introduced for the first time, though it was supplemented into currently existing populations.
“John [Gaylord] must be charmed with good weather, every date picked over the last three years has been both sunny and dry,” said Jock Beall, a wildlife refuge biologist. “By planting the species of vegetation that are friendly towards these butterflies, we hope to help them return to the area.”
The key point of this event was to promote restoration for an ecosystem that once existed. The W.L. Finley Wildlife Reserve was originally designed for Canadian geese, as it was their wintering and resting habitat. Today though, the wildlife reserve protects many different animals. Increasing ecosystem diversity is becoming possible by reinstating animals that lived in the area once, like the Fender’s blue butterfly.
“These projects are small, but if everybody were to help out and contribute like this, then we’d see a lot of improvements on our planet,” Gaylord said.
“Ecosystem restoration is a main theme for the Audubon on a local and national scale. Overall, I’m happy to do whatever I can.”
By Jacob Rivas