November 2001 Issue:
In This Edition:
|
Coming Events |
|
Website Update |
|
Butterfly Garden Article |
|
MTC Survey |
|
Conservation Report |
|
Gift Idea |
|
... and more |
NABA's MISSION STATEMENT: COMING EVENTS: November 11 Sunday 3pm, Colorado Butterflies Part I Video Presentation by Jim Ziebol and Yvonne Homeyer at Vicki Flier's home, Glendale, MO. (For directions or more information, please contact Yvonne Homeyer homeyer@earthlink.net). December 9 Sunday 3pm, NABA Holiday Party plus Mostly Missouri Prairie Wildflowers slideshow by Lee and Torrey Berger at their home in Town & Country, MO. (For directions or more information, please contact Yvonne Homeyer homeyer@earthlink.net). January 11 Friday 7:30 pm, Identifying Local Dragonflies by Jane Walker and Joe Smentowski at St. Louis County Library Headquarters, East Room, 1640 South Lindbergh across from Plaza Frontenac, (314) 994-3300. February 24 Sunday 2:30 pm, Colorado Butterflies Part II Slide Presentation by Dennis Bozzay at Powder Valley Conservation Nature Center, 11715 Cragwold, Kirkwood, MO 63122, (314) 301-1500. *********************************************************** NEW PICTURES ON OUR WEBSITE: Dave Larson, our Webmaster, has added 20 new butterfly photo images to our NABA-St Louis webpage. They were provided by Dennis Bozzay and they look beautiful. They are best viewed by going to the Butterfly List(s) page (http://www.naba.org/chapters/nabasl/listtax.htm) and clicking on the particular butterfly photo link. Go take a look. Nice work Dennis and Dave! *********************************************************** BUTTERFLY GARDEN 2001, MADISON, ILLINOIS Nestled among family homes, schools, businesses and city streets sits a small butterfly garden that promises to take over the whole backyard. I can see from my kitchen window a space that had been an organic garden for many years. It has been visited by a family of rabbits, squirrels, an assortment of birds, bees, and wasps. Nothing like ladybugs to keep your milkweed free of aphids! You can hear sounds of crickets at night and crows as they fly over early in the morning. Host plants are harder to find than nectar, but we have a good start and many butterflies have come for lunch. An inventory of plants includes paw paw trees, mimosa, gooseberry bushes and in our neighbor's yard an eastern cottonwood. Other plants in my butterfly garden are four spicebushes, honeysuckle vine, pipevine, butterfly weed, swamp and common milkweed and milkweed vine, New England aster, pincushion flower, rose turtlehead, cat mint, yellow loosestrife, Mexican beardtongue, Virginia sweetspire, Persian cornflower, yarrow, peach blossom, astilbe, rose mallow (hibiscus), tickseed coreopsis, speedwell, and heliotrope. More include penta, cardinal flower, spotted dead nettle, hollyhock, rudbeckia, white and purple coneflower, blazing star, purple salvia, false indigo, bee and lemon balm, variegated golden sage, peppermint, wild thistles, wild asters, violets, and clover plus others which remain unidentified. I have seen the following butterflies in my garden: cabbage white, red admiral, question mark and comma, mourning cloak, spring azure, cloudless, clouded and orange sulphurs, pearl crescent, common sootywing, painted and American painted ladies, eastern tiger swallowtail, American snout, monarch, viceroy, silver spotted skipper, red spotted purple, eastern tailed blue, buckeye, least and fiery skipper, dainty yellow, black swallowtail, and gray hairstreak. Also flying were common, checkered and Peck's skippers, great spangled fritillary, Gorgone checkerspot and tawny emperor, plus the white form of the orange sulphur. There were more skippers and sulphurs which I could not identify. The first Monarch of the year visited my garden on July 3. I hope to add more milkweed and other plants in order to attract swallowtails. The results are more than worth the effort! *********************************************************** BUTTERFLY SURVEY AT MARAIS TEMPS CLAIR: NABA-St. Louis and the Missouri Department of Conservation collaborated on a survey of butterflies at Marais Temps Clair, a 935-acre wetlands conservation area in St. Charles County. Jim Ziebol of NABA-St. Louis and Nancy Snider of the Missouri Department of Conservation surveyed the property four times in May, June, July and October. NABA member Jeannie Moe and Kathy Thiele of MDC also participated in the survey. Thanks to Nancy Snider, the survey participants were able to drive into areas of Marais Temps Clair not ordinarily open to cars. Prior to the 1993 flood, Marais Temps Clair was home to two species of wetlands butterflies that were very limited in range in the St. Louis area: Gray Copper and Meadow Fritillary. During the survey, Gray Copper was found but Meadow Fritillary was not. In addition, one Duke's Skipper was observed and Bronze Coppers were found in good numbers; these are also wetlands species. Other species seen included Red-banded Hairstreak, Viceroy, Sleepy Orange, Little Yellow, Clouded, Cloudless, Orange, and Dainty Sulphurs, Monarchs, Variegated Fritillary, Checkered White, Red-spotted Admiral (formerly Red-spotted Purple), Red Admiral, Eastern Tailed-Blue and American Lady. We would like to thank Nancy Snider and MDC for this opportunity to survey a very important wetlands area for specialized butterfly species. *********************************************************** CONSERVATION REPORT: Jim Ziebol represented NABA-St. Louis at a meeting in September with six corporate executives from Equilon, a Houston oil company which is proposing to build a 58 mile pipeline out of Wood River, Illinois, part of which will run through Carlyle Lake's wildlife management area. Yvonne Homeyer contacted Equilon after receiving a public notice about the project from the Corps of Engineers and Equilon agreed to come to St. Louis to meet with concerned organizations. The meeting was held at Yvonne's office. Equilon has expressed interest in cooperating with the environmental groups that came to the meeting (NABA-St. Louis, Webster Groves Nature Study Society, St. Louis Audubon Society, Missouri Coalition for the Environment, American Bottom Conservancy, and Sierra Club). The company is considering the purchase of agricultural land adjacent to the wildlife management area as part of its mitigation efforts. We appreciate the company's willingness to listen to our concerns and address them. Our chapter continues to monitor the situation involving Holnam's proposal to build a large cement plant just south of St. Louis, in Ste. Genevieve County along the Mississippi River. Indiana Bat, an endangered species, was found on the property this summer. The site consists of 4,000 acres of wooded hills which support a wide variety of wildlife, including butterflies, and native plants that would be severely and negatively impacted, not only from the proposed cement plant but also from the proposed 1700-acre open-pit limestone quarry. Air pollution concerns have also been raised. Gov. Bob Holden (Mo.), Gov. Ryan (Ill.), U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (Ill.), Congressman Lacy Clay (Mo.), Mayor Francis Slay, the St. Louis County Council, Sen. Patrick Dougherty, Sen. Wayne Goode, Rep. Barbara Fraser, Rep. Joan Bray, Rep. Cindy Ostmann, Rep. Kathlyn Fares, Ill. State Sen. Evelyn Bowles, Ill. State Rep. Wyvetter Younge, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency have all written letters to the Corps of Engineers requesting a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). NABA-St. Louis has submitted two formal public comments to the Corps of Engineers opposing the proposed project and has also written to Sen. Jean Carnahan asking her to request the Corps of Engineers to conduct a full Environmental Impact Statement.The Missouri Coalition for the Environment has spearheaded a media campaign centered around its web site, www.stopholnam.com. The Coalition is advertising its web site on a billboard at I-270 & I-55, on Bi-State buses, and on various local radio stations. *********************************************************** GIFT IDEA: Seeking a gift for a friend, relative, neighbor or colleague? Consider giving a one-year introductory membership to the St. Louis chapter of NABA. When you renew your membership, merely double the amount of the check and include the name and mailing address (also, if known, e-mail address) of the one receiving your thoughtful gift. *********************************************************** AND MORE... NABA DUES INCREASE NEW MEMBERS HOMEYER ELECTED TO PARKS BOARD NEW BOARD CHANGES YOUR OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS: If you have questions or suggestions, e-mail Yvonne Homeyer NEWSLETTER ITEMS WANTED MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION If you or someone you know would like to become a member of the St. Louis Chapter of NABA, please fill out this application: Name _____________________________________________ *********************************************************** *********************************************************** |
[View Post-Dispatch Articles: Sep 2000; July 2001]
Back to: Current Newsletter
