Coming Events & News:
** Butterfly House on Saturday January 20 - 10:00 am.
** St Louis Zoo Insectarium on Sunday, Feb. 18, - 2:00 pm.
** Butterfly Gardening on Friday, March 16 - 8:00 pm.
** Tyson "History" Day on Saturday, April 28, 2001
** Butterfly Walks
** Officer Elections
** Butterfly Releases
** ADDENDUM: Holnam Army Corps of Engineers Letter
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From Yvonne Homeyer, President:
Dear Members,
We are starting the New Year off with an event at the Butterfly House on January 20. We will meet in the lobby at 10:00 a.m. and go in as a group. Someone from the Butterfly House will talk to us also. Thanks to Dianne Benjamin and Bob and Claudia Noe for arranging this outing. The warmth of the Butterfly House and the colorful butterflies will be a welcome change from the winter weather.
Here are the directions to the Butterfly House -
http://www.butterflyhouse.org/locatormap.html
or
From the intersection of I-64/40 and I-270: Take I-40 west to Clarkson Road exit. Turn right on Clarkson, which becomes Olive Street Road. Approximately 1 mile ahead, Faust Park is on the left.
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St Louis Zoo Insectarium:
Details to be provided soon. For more information, contact St. Louis Zoo Entomologist Jane Stevens Jane Stevens, or Vice-President Dianne Benjamin.
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Butterfly Gardening:
Looking ahead to summer flowers and the reappearance of our local butterflies, we will host a Butterfly Gardening program on Friday, March 16. We are co-sponsoring this program with the Webster Groves Nature Study Society. It will be held at 8:00 p.m. at the St. Louis County Library headquarters on Lindbergh. We have the auditorium reserved as we are expecting a large turnout.
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Tyson Research Center "History" Day
Saturday, April 28, 2001, from approx. 10am to 3pm. Butterfly walks, and other activities, to be arranged.
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Butterfly Walks:
Our monthly butterfly walks will resume in the spring. As soon as the butterflies come out, we will schedule our first walk - possibly as early as late March. We will keep you posted through the newsletter.
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Officer Elections:
Soon it will be time to elect officers and directors - yes, our chapter is
almost a year old! Dianne Benjamin has agreed to serve as Chairperson of
the Nominating Committee. If you are interested in serving on the
Nominating Committee, please contact Dianne by January 20.
In addition, if you are willing to serve on the Board, please let Dianne
know. We will be expanding the Board (now 7 people) and we want more
people to get involved. The Nominating Committee will put together a slate of
candidates and we will have a membership meeting in late March or April to
hold the election.
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Butterfly Releases:
Jeffrey Glassberg, NABA's National President, alerted us to the need for letters to the U.S. Department of Agriculture expressing concern about interstate shipment of butterflies that are then released into local populations. (See, American Butterflies, Winter 2000, p. 2.) Commercially-raised butterflies are primarily sold for weddings and other social events. When these butterflies are released, they interbreed with individuals of the same species in the local population. Several unintended and negative consequences take place as a result. One of these is the spread of disease. Another is the mixing of gene pools when butterflies from one region of the U.S. are introduced into another region. NABA has taken the position that interstate shipments of commercially-raised butterflies for release should not be allowed. I have submitted a letter on behalf of our chapter. In addition, I have prepared an individual letter (enclosed/attached) that you can sign and mail in directly. Individual letters do matter and I encourage you to add your own comments at the end.
Sincerely,
Yvonne Homeyer, President
NABA-St. Louis
homeyer@earthlink.net
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SPECIAL ADDENDUM:
Holnam Army Corps of Engineers Letter:
I am attaching the public comment letter (filename "HolnamLtr.txt") that NABA-St. Louis submitted to the Corps of Engineers regarding a proposed cement kiln, 2000-acre quarry and harbor along the Mississippi River in Ste. Genevieve County just across the Jefferson County line. The entire site of 4,000 acres is almost completely forested and there is only one short gravel road on the entire property! It is as close to wilderness as you can get in eastern Missouri and it is the largest continguous tract of forest outside the Ozarks in eastern Missouri. Many environmental and conservation groups as well as concerned individuals are opposed to this project and have also submitted public comment in opposition, including: Coalition for the Environment, Webster Groves Nature Study Society, The Environmental Clinic at Washington University School of Law, Sierra Club, American Bottom Conservancy, St. Louis Herpetological Society, John Karel (director of Tower Grove Park), Audubon Missouri, National Audubon Society/Upper Mississippi River Campaign, Heartland, and Endangered Species Coalition. If you want to get involved, please call me. We are having a meeting on January 11 and there will be a public workshop in Ste. Genevieve on Jan. 24 (we will carpool). Air quality is a major concern in addition to wildlife/habitat concerns.
Sincerely,
Yvonne Homeyer
NABA-St. Louis President
homeyer@earthlink.net
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Editor: Tom Terrific, Email: tom@tomterrific.com
Suggestions, Corrections and Articles are appreciated.
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