Boy protective of butterflies

By Eric Widholm
Leader-Telegram staff

Unlike his younger days when pinning his catch of butterflies in a display case was his common practice, today Scheider hunts only with a notebook, a pen and a camera.

    In fact, if Scheider or anybody "takes" a karner blue, meaning harming any one of its lifestages, it could mean a hefty fine and possible prision time, said Cathy Carnes, endangered species coordinator with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Green Bay.

    A "take" is any action that harms eggs laid on the ground, larvae on lupine plants or the adult butterflies, Carnes said.

    So people clearing timber from forests, using woodland trails or even picking wildflowers for display in their home need to be careful, Carnes said.

    "If (people) take one of these eggs by running over it or destroying some of the lupine (they) may not know (they're) taking it, but it's still a take," said Cathy Bleser, a butterfly expert with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Endangered Species Bureau.

    Bleser said agencies are pushing for state permits to oversee development by working on a Habitat Conservation Plan. The studies will examine where the Karner blue is and how populations

can be maintained. This includes the area of Eau Claire.

    In 1992, officials from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife, Wisconsin DNR and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation met in the Eau Claire area to decide the best ways to permit construction of a U.S. 53 inner bypass without causing problems for lupine plants, Bleser said.

    The DOT agreed to new plans rerouting the bypass around the areas where Karner blues exist, Bleser said.

    "Karners are not going to stop Highway 53," she said. "I don't know of a single case where Karners have stopped a highway."