Maryland butterflies in need of conservation action

[Rick Borchelt]

Mimi Sanford for MD DNR today emailed a number of us who helped compile the most recent decadal State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP) with the great news that the 2025-2035 SWAP has just been approved by the US Fish & Wildlife Service.  In Mimi's words:

"Receiving approval of the SWAP means that we can officially begin implementation of its objectives. I say 'officially' because, realistically, many of us are already implementing action items laid out in the SWAP simply by continuing to do the work that we do. But, in addition to unlocking State Wildlife Grant (SWG) funding for the next ten years, the SWAP's approval means that we can move forward on some of its more nebulous objectives, such as increasing coordination and funding for conservation work. We're also hoping to have a web-enabled version of the SWAP up and running sometime in the future, which should greatly increase its usability and public engagement, so stay tuned on that!"

For now, the 2025-2035 SWAP is available at: 

 https://dnr.maryland.gov/wildlife/Pages/plants_wildlife/SWAP_2025.aspx

Perhaps of most interest to those of you on this list is Chapter 3, Maryland's Species of Greatest Conservation Need.  Among the species noted here are Maryland's 27 rare, threatened, or endangered butterflies.