A conservation group has acquired a 13-acre Indiana wetland parcel that is home to one of the world’s rarest butterfly species.
IndyStar.com reports the Central Indiana Land Trust (CILTI) paid $380,000 for the property in northern Indiana near the Michigan border that is the state’s last habitat for the endangered Mitchell’s satyr butterfly. CILTI purchased the property from private owners and will hold it until the Indiana Department of Natural Resources has the funds to buy the land.
The property features a peat-bearing wetland called a fen, and the Mitchell’s satyr is only found in these rare habitats. The US Fish and Wildlife Service listed the butterfly as an endangered species in 1992, pointing out that “human-caused degradation and destruction of the species’ habitat” pushed the butterfly to near extinction. Outside of the Indiana site, the Mitchell’s satyr can only be found in nine locations in Michigan and a few restricted areas in Virginia, Mississippi and Alabama.
Due to the species’ rarity, the property will not be open to the public. CILTI said would resell the property to the state at a discounted price.
“I think this is something that’s really important for all of us in Indiana,” said CILTI Executive Director Cliff Chapman. “That we had such a gem that was still out there, and we were able to save it is a story for all of us.”
Photo courtesy of Central Indiana Land Trust
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