tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1164412540000490457.post7225770596739725398..comments2023-03-22T00:40:59.566-07:00Comments on Miami Blue Chapter: Our Mascot, the Miami Blue Butterfly, by Elane NuehringMiami Blue Chapterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09492320662191706093noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1164412540000490457.post-90182671427573588112010-11-22T06:18:36.532-08:002010-11-22T06:18:36.532-08:00The April 2010 post above was apparently overly op...The April 2010 post above was apparently overly optimistic. The last credible sighting of a Miami Blue at Bahia Honda State Park Was January 2010. The unusually cold winter of 2009-2010 and exotic iguanas' taste for the new growth of Gary Nicker, along with a score of other management factors, seemed to pull the switch. <br /><br />A 2010 revision of the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission's Miami Blue Management Plan at last set forth specific strategies, and Bahia Honda State Park's new personnel rallied with clear plans to support the butterfly, unfortunately in a classic too little too late scenario. Now it is thought to persist only in small populations on remote islands in the Key West National Refuge, under strict federal protection.<br /><br />Will the Miami Blue reappear on peninsular Florida or in the Keys in the future? If viable habitat remains, perhaps. Butterflies have disappeared and made comebacks. Meanwhile we can learn painful lessons from its presumed extirpation in the Keys. <br /><br />For more, see the Miami Blue web's Conservation page and the Fall 2010 issue of American Butterflies, Vol 18(3): Who Killed All the Miami Blues, by Dennis Olle, a NABA Director and Vice-President for Conservation, Miami Blue Chapter-NABA.Miami Blue Chapterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09492320662191706093noreply@blogger.com