Butterfly populations drop 22%, study shows. Long Island preservationist is trying to stop trend

A new study shows butterflies are vanishing nationwide due to habitat loss, climate change and use of insecticides, but one Long Island preservationist said last week she is doing what she can to try to reverse the trend.

Mill Neck resident Jamie Arty said she began rearing the winged creatures in 2022.

She collects them as caterpillars from public property scheduled for mowing maintenance, saving the insects she calls "magical" from potential demise. She estimated she has been able to collect about 200 caterpillars that have transformed into full adults.

"I'm seeing less and less butterflies and also we're starting to see them later on in the season," said Arty, 43, founder of a website that sells milkweed seeds and plants for monarch butterflies to feed from and lay their eggs on.

Evidence of the shrinking population was captured in a study published March 6 in the journal Science. It found a 22% decline in the number of butterflies in the United States from 2000 to 2020. After tracking 12.6 million butterflies across 554 species, scientists determined the count has been dropping 1.3% annually. 

It’s part of a concerning trend of declining insect populations, according to the study, whose authors include two New York scientists.

Insects, the study said, play an important role in the ecosystem for several reasons. They act as pollinators, serve as pest control and recycle nutrients from dead organisms, while also serving as food sources for other creatures.

Steven P. Campbell, a study co-author who has been monitoring the Karner blue butterfly in Albany, said in an interview last week that butterflies serve as an indicator of the state of the ecosystem.

"What's happening to butterflies is probably likely happening to other insect species, which are also crucial," he added.

As a conservation biologist at the Albany Pine Bush Preserve Commission, which protects and manages Albany’s inland pine barrens, Campbell has seen the Karner blue population grow from 100 in 2007 to 25,000 in the past year.

‘We've really been able to then turn our population around and that's been due to a lot of this habitat management," he said.

The warming climate has contributed to the shrinking butterfly population, the study said. It found climate change caused some butterflies to find northern states more "hospitable" than southern states, which have become warmer and experienced more of a drastic decline in butterflies.

"Our national-scale findings paint the most complete — and concerning — picture of the status of butterflies across the country in the early 21st century," the study said.

Butterflies have captivated and inspired people for generations, scientists and locals said in recent interviews. 

Arty, a mom of three, said she began her effort to help preserve them after she realized her children weren’t being exposed to as many butterflies as she had been growing up.

On her property, where she is finishing a 19th century mansion restoration, she maintains a monarch waystation habitat — a pesticide-free garden specifically created to attract butterflies and help them reproduce. Arty also has lectured on butterfly preservation efforts at garden clubs and donated milkweed plants to the Town of Oyster Bay.

Children find the cycle of metamorphosis fascinating, according to Melanie Mead, education director at The South Fork Natural History Museum and Nature Center in Bridgehampton.

"They're very gentle creatures … They're not aggressive and they're so susceptible to things that humans do," Mead said last week, adding: "They give us far more than we give them."

On March 5, another study co-author, Eliza M. Grames, spoke about the findings at a recorded press briefing.

"The benefit that we get most from butterflies, is that they … inspire us. They motivate us," said Grames, an assistant professor in Binghamton University’s Department of Biological Sciences.  

There is hope that butterflies will make a comeback, according to the research. The study said reducing pesticide use and implementing conservation actions like restoring and preserving native habitats can allow them to flourish again.

"I truly believe that butterflies are so magical … and I believe all children should experience butterflies and should be able to learn about them and see them," said Arty.