Blackwater Butterfly Partnership Funded
By Judy Rodd
Friends of Blackwater is pleased to announce that it has received a National Wildlife Federation Keep the Wild Alive grant for $7,000. The grant will be used to preserve a rare butterfly in Tucker County, West Virginia. This is one of only ten grants given nationwide. The Friends of Blackwater is working in partnership with Allegheny Power Systems, the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the West Virginia Wildlife Federation to protect the two-spotted skipper, Euphyes bimecula, which is on West Virginia’s Natural Heritage list and found in only two locations in the whole state.
Under the direction of the DNR’s "butterfly man", Tom Allen, the butterfly and its host plant, the sedge, Carex stricta, will be moved from a bog under a power line and along the highway to Blackwater Falls State Park. The transplant will keep the skipper out of harm’s way, and help insure that the population in West Virginia doesn’t become extinct.
How important is this tiny butterfly in the scheme of things?? Like the canary in the coal mine, the two-spotted skipper is an indicator species. It is a northern butterfly found in a southern location, which shows us how unique the high mountain northern ecosystem of the Blackwater Canyon area is. This tiny jewel of a butterfly joins the Cheat Mountain salamander and the West Virginia flying squirrel as an example of West Virginia’s amazing natural heritage which should be protected for generations to come. To learn more about the Friends of Blackwater, call:
1-877-WVA-LAND.
Judy Rodd is a co-chair of the Blackwater Canyon Committee of the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy