Island Marble Butterfly Hub - A website for all things IMB:
www.islandmarblebutterflyhub.org
To Donate directly to the Island Marble Butterfly Volunteer Program, click the button below:
Purchase a sticker to support Island Marble Butterflies:
- Sticker proceeds benefit the Island Marble Butterfly Volunteer Program
- Sticker cost helps us offset the cost of printing, paypal/square percentages and shipping
- Sticker size is 4" x 2.79"
- Help support the long-term recovery plan for a federally listed imperiled species
- A huge thanks to artist Jill Bliss for her rendition of the Island Marble Butterfly in its native habitat, ©2022 of www.JillBliss.com
- Thanks to these local business and organizations who have purchased stickers:
- Decatur Island - Jill Bliss
- Lopez Island - Blossom on Lopez, Isabel's Espresso, Lopez Bookshop, Paper Scissors on the Rock
- San Juan Island - Dockside Treasures, FERN, Island Studios, Julie's Nursery, Salish Sea Sciences, Salty at Heart Apothecary, San Juan Island Food Co-op, San Juan Safaris, Roche Harbor Grocery Store, Friends of Lime Kiln Society
- Anacortes - Ink + Wool
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To purchase sticker for $7.50 (sticker price, plus shipping), click the button below:
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The Island Marble Volunteer Program is a program of the San Juan Islands Conservation District. The program has recently moved to the San Juan Islands Conservation District from On Sacred Ground Land Trust where it began through a cooperative agreement with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.
On Sacred Ground will continue to play a supportive fundraising role for the IMBVP. Volunteers will also continue to play a critical role in habitat creation and maintenance.
To sign up as a volunteer for the Island Marble Butterfly Program, contact Walt Andrews, Volunteer Coordinator: [email protected]
On Sacred Ground will continue to play a supportive fundraising role for the IMBVP. Volunteers will also continue to play a critical role in habitat creation and maintenance.
To sign up as a volunteer for the Island Marble Butterfly Program, contact Walt Andrews, Volunteer Coordinator: [email protected]
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Walt Andrews & Sarah Hanson present for Washington Butterfly Association - February 2023
"Current Status of the Endangered Island Marble Butterfly"
Jenny Shrum collects DNA samples for Island Marble Butterfly - Summer 2022 & 2023
The United State Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) identified the need to determine the genetic variability within the remaining populations of Euchloe ausonides insulanus, more commonly known as island marble butterflies (IMB), on San Juan Island as a critical conservation goal. It is the last known location where these butterflies are found. In 2022, Karen Reagan from FWS fostered a collaborative effort between the United States Geological Survey, Eastern Ecological Science Center (USGS), the University of Florida, Jaret Daniels Lab (UF) and the National Park Service, San Juan Island National Historical Park (NPS) to passively gather samples from which to extract DNA and elucidate genetic markers.
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service determined that elucidating the genetic markers of island marble butterflies was a crucial component to measuring the current diversity of the population and developing conservation strategies that maintain that diversity. In 2022, over two hundred samples were collected and sent to the Eastern Ecological Science Center Leetown Lab for processing. All of these samples were taken passively meaning they had negligible effect on the butterflies. For example, no wings were cut, or legs removed. Instead, technicians captured excreted fluid and exoskeleton sheds obtained in the rearing lab. These non-invasive techniques are crucial because so few butterflies remain. These samples will help the USGS identify markers that will initially quantify diversity, but could also lead to the capacity to distinguish individuals. This would provide researchers a powerful tool to answer island marble butterfly life history questions that have thus far remained a mystery.
On Sacred Ground leads Island Marble Butterfly Captive Propagation Under the Leadership of Jenny Shrum from 2020-2022
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Photo Left; A later stage instar munches on Brassica Rapa flower buds 2021-2022: Due to concerns about over-collection, the IMB Rearing Lab reduced its IMB juvenile harvest to 259 individuals and fostered the creation of 224 chrysalides for release in the spring of 2022—35 fewer than in 2020. The lab successfully released 250 adults into quality habitat at American Camp. 100 surveys were completed throughout the nine-week flight season across six pre-established transect sites and butterflies were encountered 217 times (compared to 134 in 2020). |