The Nature Conservancy in Indiana has initiated Hope Takes Flight, a project to reintroduce the Karner blue butterfly in Northwest Indiana.

The butterfly is on the federally endangered list, with its decline due to habitat loss and fragmentation. The small Karner Blue butterfly has a wingspan of about 1 inch with a grayish-blue pattern.

The near-extinction of the butterfly is an indicator of the deterioration of the oak savanna habitat.

Last year, The Nature Conservancy began a five-year project in Northwest Indiana to restore the butterfly habitat in such ways as planting thousands of lupines, the butterfly’s host plant; restoring 16 acres of oak savanna; and releasing at least 1,250 butterflies.

Along with a federal grant, the project is being backeded financially by Wayne Zink, owner and president of Endangered Species Chocolate, who recently joined the board of directors of The Nature Conservancy in Indiana.

Zink and other representatives of his Indianapolis-based chocolate company recently visited the Paul H. Douglas Center for Environmental Education in Gary, during the last Nature Conservancy board meeting.

There they learned about the life cycle of the Karner blue and witnessed females producing larvae, butterflies snacking on lupine, and spiders attempting to move in on the butterflies’ territory.

Spiders are the butterfly’s natural predator.

Posted 6/14/2007