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Ladd Williams, conservation planner for The Nature
Conservancy, Pennsylvania Chapter, stands in front of Ft.
Indiantown Gap Military Base and discusses the plight of the
regal fritillary, a rare butterfly found in an area of the base. The
butterfly, once much more prevalent in the East is now only
located on the base.
Butterflies, Helicopters
Share Military Base
JINNY WILT
Adams County
Correspondent
ANNVILLE (Lebanon Co.)
What do the military’s sleek
Blackhawk Helicopter and an
elegant and delicate rare regal
fritillary have in conflhon?
You’ll find tfie answer if you
go to the Fort Indiantown Gap
Military Base where the two can
be found sharing the same air
space.
Another commonality
between the unlikely duo is
their need for care the
Blackhawk needs its pilot and
crew and the endangered butter
fly needs people like Ladd
Williams.
As the helicopters fly over
head, Williams, conservation
planner for The Nature
Conservancy, Pennsylvania
Chapter, contracted with the
Pennsylvania National Guard to
prepare a basewide environmen
tal impact statement, talks
about the butterfly and efforts to
save it from extinction in the
East It is still found in the
Midwest, but declining there
too
Currently it is rated a three
globally, which means “it is very
rare and local throughout its
range,” and in the
Commonwealth it is rated a one
which means, “it is critically
impaired ”
It’s range was once from
Manitoba to East Montana east
to South Ontario and Maine,
south to East Colorado, North
Arkansas, and west to North
Carolina, according to The
Audubon Society’s “Field Guide
to North American Butterflies ”
Ironically, Williams, who has
a bachelor’s degree from the
University of West Virginia in
wildlife biology, and a master’s
degree in human dimensions/
wildlife management, said it is
thought that the beautiful, large
orange and black butterfly lives
on the base because of the activ
ities of the military.
While he warns that he but
terfly is “close to the edge” at
“The Gap,” the military appar-
ently provides just the right
“amount of disturbance to these
fields to create the vegetation
composition” that the butterfly
needs.
It feeds on butterfly milk
weed, thistle, dogbane, moun
tain mint and knapweed, he
said, with milkweed its’ favorite.
The Guard’s land manage
ment practices of mowing and
burning, which were developed
to insure fire safety on the
bombing range, have had the
unintentional benefit of main
taining habitat for the regal.
Burning the fields, something
the military does, also is one of
the activities that generates new
vegetation, Williams said. An
ecologist who starts work in a
few weeks will try to determine
how often and when this burn
ing is needed. For example,
Williams said, if the distur
bances to the fields does not
take place the area reverts to
forest and the butterfly leaves.
“It needs an open grassy area to
survive,” he said.
The ecologist will also try to
determine how close to the nec
tar plants the host plants should
be. “These are critical questions
for the regal’s survival,”
Williams said.
The butterfly’s host plant is
either an arrow/leaved or
ovate/leaved violet, both herba
ceous perennials, he said.
The first male regals emerge
from their chrysalis at “the Gap”
in mid-June. Males patrol their
habitat in search of freshly
emerged females, while the
females rest in the grasses or
bask in the sun The males die
off late in the season and the
females enter diapause (a rest
ing stage) during the month of
August. After this period of rest
and relaxation, the females will
re-emerge to lay eggs and die.
The eggs will then hatch in
three to four weeks and the
miniscule first instar larvae will
seek shelter near the ground’s
surface and immediately enter
diapause without feeding. As
temperatures rise the following
spring the larvae will begin to
Korttie r*
..
Regal fritillary, a rare butterfly which is near extinction, can be found behind the mountain
pictured here. In the foreground is part of the Ft. Indiantown Gap Military Base vehicle stor
age area. The butterfly shares the air with many types of helicopters flown as part of the
Pennsylvania National Guard’s training program.
feed on the host violets.
Feeding only at night, the
larvae will molt five times before
forming a chrysalis in late May
or early June. After 17 days a
new generation of adults will
emerge to perpetuate their brief
life cycle.
“The butterfly is an indicator
of things that go wrong in an
environment. They are sensitive * *
to habitat fragmentation*
They’re not like the white tail
deer where if you build a devel
opment they’ll still come into
your yard. If you take away the
plants that these insects need to
survive they’re gone and that’s
what happened in Southcentral
Pennsylvania to the regal fritil
lary,” Williams said
Weather is a factor too with
wet and warm winters thought
to be the most detrimental to the
regal larvae because of the
molds. Of course extremely cold
Third grade students from Stiegel Elementary
Brother’s Dairy Farm, Penryn, recently as part of the Ag In the Classroom program
Here Brenda Hershey explains how to take care of calves. Ag In the Classroom has
been part of Manhelm,Central’s curriculum for 15 years. The goal of the program Is to
make students aware of how agriculture affects their lives. Thestudents also learned
about beef, apples, potatoes, and hogs. Photo by. Jill GmgUono
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weather kills them too
The regal is visible in a corri
dor between Blue Mountain and
Second Mountain where the mil
itary trains, Williams said, and
it is also thought to be in a
restricted section of the base so
he estimates that it lives on 500
acres
Thought to have “winked
out,” a spotted
a regal fritillary in the early
19905. TNC then began to quiet
ly monitor it and finally decided
this was a good opportunity to
work with the federal govern
ment.
The North American
Butterfly Association also sued
the Pennsylvania National
Guard and the courts mandated
the environmental impact state
ment. Williams, who is responsi
ble for the biological components
of that document will coordinate
the fieldwork of five subcontrac-
ily
tors throughout this summer,
fall and winter.
TNCsays, “Loss of habitat,
pesticide use, and possibly a
viral pathogen have had a dev
astating effect on this sensitive
insect. Declining throughout it*
range, the regal has suffered
most alarmingly in the east Due
to more recent changes in land
use practices (i.e. intensive crop
ping, feed lots, development and
reforestation), the regals pre
ferred habitat pasture/hayfieW
ecotype - is now almost gone Ir
the past 20 years the regal frifil
lary has virtually disappeared in
the east, reduced to a single pop
ulation in Southcentral
Pennsylvania.”
Volunteers who would like to
help monitor the butterfly’s
activities are welcome to call
Williams at his base office at
(717) 861-2449.