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<br /> BRIAN DAvtes/The Register-Guard
<br /> Warren and Laurie Halsey envision a restored oak savanna on a western slope of their property near Monroe.Once invading grasses have been
<br /> cleared,the couple will plant native species,including lupines to attract the endangered Fender's blue butterfly.
<br /> LANDOWNERS GROW WILD
<br /> Private plots restored to native prairies may help save rare butterfly
<br /> BY SCOTT MABEN Bruce Newhouse,a Eugene bota-
<br /> The Register-Guard DISAPPEARING WILLAMETTE VALLEY SPECIES nist and president of the Native
<br /> hen Warren and Laurie Plant Society of Oregon.
<br /> Halsey gaze out the win- t 2 •. r.,i 5j, - • Once prevalent throughout the
<br /> •
<br /> �y valley,the butterfly,lupine and
<br /> doves of their spacious 9�r*,i so' ?k' . M1 i,4 l • other native prairie plants have re-
<br /> roe,they don't kshop on a see a hillside infest-west of Mon- }, ,l•, ,4.:•••;,.-1,.. ..,,,,,t ` r� ing near Eugeneisolated
<br /> a pockets,
<br /> a federald
<br /> ed with exotic grasses. S..dr ";•:;
<br /> They see a future home for the s ;.�. .., `:+, y '� wildlife refuge west erof Salem.
<br /> Fender's blue butterfly and r j ` ° ^, +:,t .,�'i 47 4 "We have just 1 percent of this
<br /> Kincaid's lupine,a air of native xi f ,. i habitat left.That's pretty severe,"
<br /> p p 'r > �'2 . 0 said Carol Schuler of the Fish&
<br /> species on the slide toward extinc- Wildlife Service.
<br /> tion. Fender's blue Kincaid's lupine Willamette daisy It will take considerable work to
<br /> "We'd like to do sotnethin butterfly Status:Threatened Status:Endangered g 9 improve the quality of native habi•
<br /> meaningful on the hillsides that Status:Endangered Profile:Of the pea Profile:Of the aster tat and protect those areas from fu-
<br /> adds to the diversity of the ranch," Profile:Once family,a long-lived Family,a native' ture threats,said Schuler,who co-
<br /> Warren Halsey said. thought extinct,this perennial herb and perennial ordinates work on three national
<br /> The couple plan to knock back small,butterfly relies host plant of Fender's broad-leaved plant. wildlife refuges in the Willamette
<br /> the weeds and recreate upland on Kincaid's lupine for blue butterfly. Habitat:Wetland and Valley.
<br /> prairie habitat that used to cover food and to procreate. Habitat:Upland upland prairie
<br /> much of the Willamette Valley150 Habitat:Upland prairie
<br /> "I always say we're losing this
<br /> habitat by benign neglect,"she
<br /> years ago.And they're getting help prairie said.
<br /> from the U.S.Fish&Wildlife Ser- Much of the habitat was lost as
<br /> vice,the agency in charge of saving The Register-Guard settlers cleared prairies and savan-
<br /> the species. nas for crops and pastures begin-
<br /> Collaborations between private "We may be actually able to terfly and lupine has been lost or ning in the mid-1800s and as fire
<br /> landowners and public agencies to move these species,if not off the gravely compromised over the past suppression allowed Douglas fir to
<br /> restore habitat for rare species are endangered species list,at least in- century and a half,placing the spe- take over the foothills ringing the
<br /> raising hopes for the recovery of to a more secure position on the cies among the rarest of native valley.
<br /> Willamette Valley plants and ani- ground,"said Tom Kaye,executive wildlife in Oregon. More recently,expanding hous-
<br /> mals that have succumbed to agri- director of the nonprofit Institute "Without intervention and care- ing developments,Christmas tree
<br /> culture,development and invasive for Applied Ecology in Corvallis. ful management on our part,we
<br /> weeds. Most of the habitat for the but- would certainly lose them,"said Please turn to HABITAT,Page AS
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