Early pioneers told of moose in the Stanwood delta, elk throughout the hills by the Gardens and Farm, and Island Marble Butterflies flitting about (now Federally endangered and found only on the San Juan Islands). Rifles eliminated the moose and elk, but loss of larval hosts and native plants for food have shrunk many butterflies’ ranges. It is not that they are extinct (yet), it is that their ranges have greatly shrunk. The Gardens’ Kiosks’ roofs are planted to attract specific butterfly species requiring specific native plants as larva
hosts, as are the Farm’s ethnobotanical planters. Pioneers told of many more butterfly species existing than seen today. As a teenager in the ‘50s, do readers remember washing auto windshields, feeling the regret of killing beautiful butterflies? Or a better question, when was the last time you cleaned your car’s windshield of any bug splatter … that used to run so yellow, ugly, and thick? Truckers report driving for 1,000s of miles and never stopping to clean their windshields. Where have all the insects gone? With butterflies, it is more likely herbicides, rather than pesticides, that have caused their demise as each species needs a specific plant for its larva as those plant’s chemicals are used to make defense systems, e.g., Monarchs need Milkweed to manufacture the chemicals that stay predators’ appetites. We wash our publicly owned Federal and State (DNR) mountains’ slopes clean of deciduous plants every 50 years with herbicides, from crest to shining sea. Fewer native flowering plants, leads to fewer native insects -that include butterflies – and fewer native birds.
https://ecos.fws.gov/ecp/species/3285
https://www.heraldnet.com/life/if-you-meet-a-moose-how-to-stay-safe/ https://derbycanyonnatives.com/2014/attracting-more-insects-with-native-plants-part-2-butterflies/
https://sjpt.org/what-we-do/care-for-land/stewardship/stewardship-projects/island-marble-butterfly-project/
WDFW2011.pdf
https://fancy4page.com/one-of-the-worlds-largest-moths-has-been-spotted-in-the-united-states-for-the-first-time-perplexing-scientists/
History Farm Prose & Primary Level Question
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