Nebraskaland

52 Nebraskaland • May 2022 MIXED BAG The regal fritillary and monarch butterfly are both species that have been declining and are being considered for listing on the federal Endangered Species List. The monarch has already been evaluated, and the determination was that its listing is considered warranted but currently precluded because of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's prioritization of species in need of more urgent attention. This means that while the monarch meets the requirements for federal listing, there are too many other species in even worse shape that take precedence. Listing of the regal fritillary will be determined in the next few years. In Nebraska, both butterflies are listed in Nebraska's State Wildlife Action Plan as Tier 1 Species of Greatest Conservation Need. This designation helps us focus our research on the species that can benefit most from conservation and management efforts. Because of limited staffing, some research efforts benefit greatly from help from the community and volunteers. The rare butterfly survey relies on the help of trained volunteers from communities across the state. Volunteers who help with this community science project walk along survey routes looking for monarchs and regals. They also gather vegetation, habitat and land-use information to help biologists understand where the butterflies are located and sometimes, more importantly, where they are not on the landscape. This project runs from June 15 to August 15 to capture the window of time that both species are in flight in Nebraska. Monarchs usually arrive in Nebraska around May and stay through September. Regal fritillaries, however, do not migrate and have a comparatively narrow window of time when they are active in the state. Please consider attending one of three free training events planned for this project this spring. The first is an in-person training on May 21 at Schramm Park State Recreation Area near Gretna. The second is a virtual training on May 26 on Zoom. The last is another in-person training on June 4 at Homestead National Historic Park near Beatrice. Only one training is needed to participate in the survey, and they will run from 1 p.m. until 5 p.m. The first hour of the training is open to anyone who would like to learn more about monarchs, regals, common plants and other community science opportunities. After this introduction, anyone interested in participating in the survey will learn the ins-and-outs of the methods during the remainder of the training. These training sessions will provide the skills and materials needed to participate in this project and help contribute important data for the conservation of these rare butterflies. Registration is required. Please sign up for one of the events at Calendar. OutdoorNebraska.gov or through the events links at facebook.com/nebraskaMPI. Further details will be sent to registered participants. For more information or questions about the project, contact Pollinator Ecologist Cody Dreier at cody.dreier@ nebraska.gov or at 402-471-1755. RARE BUTTERFLY SURVEY By Cody Dreier, Pollinator Ecologist, NGPC Monarch butterfly. ERIC FOWLER, NEBRASKALAND Regal fritillary butterfly. CHRIS HELZER

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