Saving the Karner Blue Butterfly - Teacher's Guide

Previewing Activity

Ask the students to share everything they know about the Karner blue butterfly, and write their responses on the board or on a flip chart. You can separate their responses into facts they know are true and facts they think are true.

Post-Viewing Activities

1. Review the list of facts recorded before viewing; modify any misinformation and add new facts that were learned.

2. Contact New Hampshire Nongame and Endangered Wildlife Program and find out what students can do to help protect the Karner blue population. Note: There is a Karner Blue Butterfly Captive Rearing and Monitoring Program and a Pine Barrens Habitat Restoration Program available for volunteers.

3. Write to a state legislator and find out what the state is doing to protect the Karner blue and what will happen to the state butterfly designation if the Karner blue becomes extinct in New Hampshire.

Other Resources

Karner Blue Butterfly
Information sheet from the Chipper Woods Bird Observatory in Indiana.

Karner Blue Butterfly
Fact sheet from the Great Lakes region of the US Fish and Wildlife service.

Karner Blue Butterfly
Another information sheet from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation

The Karner Blue Butterfly and the Pine-oak Barrens Ecosystem
Information from The Roosevelt Wildlife Station in New York.

Karner Blue Butterfly
Fact sheet from the University of Michigan  Museum of Zoology.