Karner Blue butterflies depend on wild lupine for survival. Lupine is the only plant Karner Blue caterpillars will eat. Photo by Ann B. Swengel, courtesy of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
Once, a postage-stamp-sized butterfly known as the Karner Blue was found all across the Great Lakes states, from Minnesota to New York. Today its population has declined by 99 percent. The Karner Blue’s last stronghold is in Wisconsin, where an unprecedented state-wide effort is underway to save it. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Mary Losure reports: