Butterfly expert from WSU to offer program at Yakima Area Arboretum

Where is it?

The silver-bordered fritillary, if not gone completely, apparently has dwindled significantly in its home in the Moxee bog.

The small, orange butterfly with black spots, not unlike the better known Monarch, was at one time a common inhabitant of the bog, a 10-acre, mostly wetland parcel near the Yakima River.

Considered a species of concern in Washington, the silver-bordered fritillary is the reason a national nonprofit bought the bog in 1966. The Nature Conservancy, a conservation organization that sets out to protect ecologically important lands and waters, set the property aside as a way to safeguard the butterfly habitat. It was one of the first preserves in the state purchased by the conservancy, according to Nicholas Altadonna, Eastern Washington stewardship coordinator for The Nature Conservancy.

Since that time there is evidence that the silver-bordered fritillary has moved on, and a number of people want to know why – and what, if anything, can be done about it.

To that end, a butterfly expert, David James, will present a program on butterfly ecology – “Moxee Bog and the Pearl Bordered Fritillary: Biology, history and the future” – Monday at the Yakima Area Arboretum.

James, an associate professor of entomology at Washington State University in Prosser, will be speaking to the Native Plant Society, and the public is welcome, said member Catherine Reed.

In 2011, James co-authored a book on Pacific Northwest butterflies, “Life Histories of Cascadia Butterflies.”

“Moxee bog is a Nature Conservancy property that was established to protect the butterfly, but it unfortunately does not occur there anymore,” he wrote in an email.

Native Plant Society members are curious about what has happened to the silver-bordered fritillary over the past 50 years in the bog, which is not open to the public.

“The butterfly numbers seemed to dwindle after a fence was built around the site to keep out the cattle,” Reed explained in an email. “It could be that the cattle helped keep the plant that the butterflies rely on from competition from other plants, but no one knows for sure.”

The key plant for the silver-bordered fritillary is the northern bog violet, and that may have been crowded out by other vegetation, said Altadonna, who will be attending Monday’s meeting from his base in Cle Elum.

“The bog was originally set aside because of the rare butterfly, but over time that focus has evolved to include the entire ecosystem,” he said. ‘The silver-bordered fritillary is one of many species of plants and wildlife on that property we’d be concerned about.“

One idea that may come out of the meeting is how the Native Plant Society and other volunteers might be able to help determine why the butterfly population in the bog has either disappeared or drastically decreased, Reed said.

”We want to know how the group can help the Conservancy, perhaps do plant or butterfly surveys,“ she said.

Altadonna indicated the meeting will be an opportunity to listen to local concerns about the of silver-bordered fritillary’s mysterious disappearance.

”There are a lot of unknowns. The original target (of the preserve) was the butterfly, and that now includes everything that calls the bog home,“ he noted.