The Story of a Little Blue Butterfly: The Karner Blue

The Xerces Society is named for a blue butterfly, the Xerces blue, which went extinct in the 1940s. Luckily, there are other blues, some of which are doing fine and we can see regularly in our parks and neighborhoods, little butterflies who flash bright blue when they move their wings. Others, unfortunately, are not doing so well. In this episode, we are highlighting one of those, the Karner blue.Joining us to talk more about this butterfly is Julie Michaelson. Julie works for the Xerces Society as a pollinator conservation planner and NRCS partner biologist covering the Connecticut River Valley in New England. In this role, Julie collaborates with the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service and the American Farmland Trust to provide technical support, training, and conservation planning assistance to farmers and land managers seeking to develop pollinator and beneficial insect habitat. Prior to joining Xerces, Julie was an environmental steward with New York state parks where she monitored and managed habitat for the endangered Karner blue butterfly, the topic of today’s conversation.---Cover Photo: Justin Meissen CC BY-SA 2.0Thank you for listening! For more information go to xerces.org/bugbanter.