Fort McCoy supports 2024 butterfly field day for special group dedicated to natural resources care, management

Forty-five people over two tours from the Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin visited Fort McCoy on July 15 to participate in a butterfly field day at the installation for a second time.

The Fort McCoy coordination for the field trip was again led by Endangered Species Biologist Jessup Weichelt with the Directorate of Public Works Environmental Division Natural Resources Branch (NRB).

Weichelt said the weather for the event was ideal and he had a great turnout for both the morning and afternoon tours.

“The mission was to find as many butterflies as we could,” Weichelt said. “The goal also was to find some of the more rare butterflies, such as Ottoe Skipper and the Karner Blue Butterfly. And luckily the weather allowed us to be successful. We were able to find Ottoe Skippers and Karner Blue Butterflies.

“There were 25 people signed up for the morning session and 25 for the afternoon session,” Weichelt said. “We did have some cancellations, but total we had 45 people participate.”

In 2022, Weichelt had 19 people participate in the butterfly field day for the same organization. The 2024 event more than doubled the 2022 tour, and Weichelt said the more people who participate in these kinds of events help spread the word about Fort McCoy’s efforts to protect endangered and rare species of not just butterflies but other wildlife as well.

“The awareness about our endangered species here is very important,” Weichelt said. “A lot of people when they come here, they just think ‘Fort McCoy military installation,’ and they don’t think they’re allowed to come out here. They also don’t know that the military does a lot of work for helping endangered species.

“It’s very eye opening for a lot of them when I tell them they can create iSportsman accounts and come out here and recreate. And also, that we do a lot of management for endangered species and that we have more of them than any other entity per square acre that manages land in the U.S.”

Both tours centered around areas on Badger Drop Zone on Fort McCoy’s South Post. Plants and flowers in the drop zone are some of the best suited for the rare butterflies found at Fort McCoy, Weichelt said, plus the Badger Drop Zone contains some of the best grassland habitat remaining in Wisconsin to view rare butterflies.

“The Otto Skipper is probably the rarest butterfly in the state, and we were able to find one in the afternoon,” Weichelt said. “We also found Karner Blue Butterflies in the morning and the afternoon.”

The group also found a Regal Fritillary, which is another unique butterfly at the installation that natural resources personnel on post are tracking as well, Weichelt said.

Attendees to the field day came from all over Wisconsin. The Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin, available at https://www.wisconservation.org, is a nonprofit 501c3 that was formed in 1986 as declining budgets severely compromised critical programs of Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources, the website states.

“With the support of our donors and members, the Foundation has boosted private sector investment and involvement for Wisconsin’s lands, waters, and wildlife,” states the website. “We believe that nature has inherent value, and that people can make a difference. We are the bridge connecting people who want to help with meaningful opportunities to make a lasting impact on Wisconsin’s lands, waters, wildlife, and future stewards.”

Before this year and 2023, Fort McCoy last held butterfly field days in July 2019, and those events were led by NRB Chief Tim Wilder, who also previously served as the installation’s endangered species biologist.

In 2019, Wilder noted how Fort McCoy is a special place for endangered butterfly species, such as the Karner Blue, to thrive.

“The populations of many pollinators, including butterflies, are declining throughout their ranges,” Wilder said. “Fort McCoy is home to one of the largest remaining populations of the federally endangered Karner Blue Butterfly.

“Fort McCoy is also home to three species of butterflies that are currently undergoing status reviews by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to determine if they require protection under the Endangered Species Act,” he said. “These species are the Monarch, Frosted Elfin, and Regal Fritillary butterflies. Fort McCoy also has the only remaining population of Ottoe Skipper butterflies in Wisconsin.” Since 2019, the Monarch butterfly has been listed as a candidate species and will be reanalyzed for listing in another five years.

Fort McCoy’s motto is to be the “Total Force Training Center.”

Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin.

The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services nearly every year since 1984.

Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” and on Twitter by searching “usagmccoy.”

Also try downloading the Digital Garrison app to your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base. Fort McCoy is also part of Army’s Installation Management Command where “We Are The Army’s Home.”