A Karner blue butterfly is seen Thursday in the Albany Pine Bush Preserve.
CLIFTON PARK -- A deed restriction put in place on a Wood Road property more than a decade ago to preserve a small Karner blue butterfly habitat was lifted by Clifton Park lawmakers on Dec. 16 after it was determined the parcel can no longer sustain the endangered species.
Town Board members voted 4-0 to lift the restriction at 26 Wood Road that was first enacted in 2013, when DCG Development Co. developed a portion of the land. The restriction prevented the company from developing a 1-acre section of the property that at the time was considered a habitat for the Karner blue, which has been listed as an endangered species since the early 1990s.
But the land is no longer considered viable for the butterflies and the state Department of Environmental Conservation confirmed this past week it is no longer monitoring the property for the species as it had for decades.
The reason: wild lupin -- the only plant Karner blue larvae feed on -- is no longer found on the property. The colorful flowers require open meadows and ample sun, but trees on the property have grown over time, blocking out the rays needed for the plants to flourish, according to DEC.
"The 26 Wood Road site in the town of Clifton Park has not been maintained as butterfly habitat -- larger trees have grown up and are now shading out the areas where lupine plants previously grew," the agency said in a statement. "These lupine plants are needed to support the Karner blue species. DEC is no longer monitoring the site because of this loss of adequate habitat."
News of the habitat's loss was a blow for Lynne Jackson, a member of the citizen-led group Save the Pine Bush, which has spent decades fighting development around Albany Pine Bush Preserve where the Karner blues were first discovered in the 1940s.
The group at one time was locked in a legal battle with the town of Clifton Park to try to stop development of the Wood Road area in order to protect the Karner blues, though those efforts were ultimately rejected by the courts, which determined the group did not have the legal standing to bring forward litigation. A deed restriction was ultimately put in place instead.
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"The problem is the cumulative impact," Jackson said. "It's an acre here and an acre there. It's 100 acres here and 100 acres there. Then, you don't have an ecosystem."
Jackson said more should have been done to preserve the butterfly habitat and that more endangered species like the Karner blue butterflies need more legal protections moving forward.
"Exactly what that is, I'm not sure," she said.
It's unclear what DCG Development Co. plans to do with the land now that the restriction has been lifted. The company could not be reached for comment.
But the loss of the property won't stymie local efforts to bring the butterflies back from the brink, according to Margo Olson, executive director of the Wilton Wildlife Preserve & Park, which is home to a growing population of Karner blues.
The blue-tinged butterflies can be found in pockets that span from Maine to Minnesota, typically in areas where there are dry, sandy soils. In the Capital Region, the butterflies can be found in a swath of land known as the Saratoga Sand Plains that stretches from the Pine Bush region north to Queensbury and includes the Wilton preserve.
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Olson pointed to local ongoing efforts by Saratoga County, DEC and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to preserve land and create new habitats that have been ongoing since the early 2000s, when a restoration plan to bring the butterflies back from the brink was first adopted.
The plan calls for careful management of more than two dozen areas of Karner blue populations and reintroducing the species to areas where the insects once flourished but have since been wiped out due to development and growing tree canopies like the one on Wood Road.
Populations of the butterfly have since been reintroduced in Ohio and New Hampshire.
"It's not like there isn't planning in place to make sure there is a habitat being not just developed but maintained," Olson said.
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Local efforts have been paying off, according to DEC, which noted that populations of the butterflies have been growing in the towns of Wilton and Northumberland, and butterflies have also colonized lands that had recently been restored in successional habitats.
"DEC continues to study and work on adaptation strategies to best preserve these butterfly species," the agency said.
In addition, the agency noted that an effort to restore an 860-acre property in Moreau Lake State Park is also expected to lead to a third managed population of Karner blues in the coming years.
The property, known as the Big Bend Preserve, was acquired by the state in 2021, making the Moreau park one of the 10 largest in New York state. The property was acquired for $1.6 million that was paid for from the state's Environmental Protection Fund.
"DEC anticipates future restoration management in the new Big Bend Preserve in Saratoga County will create a third managed population for these butterflies and the many other species that share these early successional habitats," the agency said.
Those efforts include preservation and habitat restoration efforts in the Saratoga Sand Plains, which includes the sprawling Wilton Wildlife Preserve and the Saratoga County Airport, where the butterflies have not only taken hold in recent years, but have grown in population, according to DEC.
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"Populations in the towns of Wilton and Northumberland are considered to be increasing," the agency said. "In addition to the Wildlife Management Area, the butterflies are also colonizing lands recently restored to early successional habitat."
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