Florida Keys-any good places to find leps

[pittendrighinsects]

Hi, I will be traveling to the Florida Keys in a few days and was wondering if there are any good places to find leps there and any species I should look out for, thanks

Quintin

[leptraps]

I wrote the article below and appeared in the Southern Lepidopterists Society Newsletter. Little has changed in the Florida Keys and more and more of the remaining habitat has either come under the control of State, Federal or local agency and collecting is not permitted. What remains is private property. If it is not posted, you may wish to find who the owner may be and get permissin. If that is not possible, then collect at your own risk.

Many of the species which occur in the Florida Keys are under pressure from development. Before you go, learn what occurs in the Keys. collect carefully. Read the article and be prepared. It is no illegal to collect in the Florida Keys. But you must be very careful where and what you collect.

CAN YOU COLLECT LEPIDOPTERA IN THE FLORIDA KEYS?
BY
LEROY C. KOEHN

It has been commonly believed for over 10 years that all of the Florida Keys were declared a Wildlife Sanctuary or State Park. It was also commonly believed that the collecting of wildlife in the Florida Keys was prohibited and a permit to collect was necessary. Any conversation with amateur and professional Lepidopterists regarding Florida, and specifically, the Florida Keys, would eventually turn to the restrictions on collecting in the Keys. When I relocated to Florida in 1998, I fully investigated whether you can or cannot collect butterflies and moths in the Florida Keys and here is a little of the history of what happened and what I learned.

I made my first collecting trip to the Florida Keys in 1978 with Denny Currutt of Chesterland, Ohio, and Dave Baggett of Jacksonville, Florida. We shared lodging at the Camp Owaissa Bauer in the Owaissa Bauer Hammock near Homestead, Florida with Dr. Charles V. Covell, Jr. and a group of his students from the University of Louisville, and Dr. Doug Ferguson of the Smithsonian (USNM). Although we were not in the field together in the Keys, it was a memorable and extremely enjoyable adventure. As we made our first journey to the Keys from Homestead, we traveled down US1 over the causeway and as we entered Key Largo, a large white sign on the south side of the highway proclaimed “The Florida Keys, a Sanctuary for Nature”. I remember seeing that sign on numerous occasions. The sign disappeared during the construction of the new water supply line to the Keys in 1989. I searched for the sign in 1998 and amongst a pile of rubble in the edge of the woods, I found the pieces. Who placed the sign remains a mystery to me to this day. This sign has played a significant part in this history.

I relocated to Florida in 1987. While living there I served as Editor of the Newsletter of the Southern Lepidopterists’ Society. In May of 1990, the Southern Lepidopterists’ Society planned a field meeting in the Lower Florida Keys. Several days prior to the meeting, a number of letters were received from various people representing the Fish & Wildlife Service (Key Deer National Wildlife Refuge), Florida State Parks and Key West Garden Club stating that they were opposed to the field meeting and especially our collecting activities. In their letters they threatened to have us arrested if we ventured onto their property to collect. They further advised us that they would not grant us collecting permits, and they would encourage owners of private property to have us arrested for trespassing. As a result, the meeting was canceled at the last minute. There was major disagreement amongst the officers over the planning and preparations for the failed field trip. The founder and then member of the Southern Lepidopterists’ Society, Dave Baggett, was extremely disturbed that “his” Society was receiving such bad publicity. Dave Baggett knew many of the naturalist in the Florida Keys and contacted them to discover what brought about the negative reaction to our field meeting. At the 1990 annual meeting of the Southern Lepidopterists’ Society, Dave Baggett announced that several groups (Key West Garden Club, Audubon Society, etc) were seeking to have the State of Florida declare the Florida Keys a Wildlife Sanctuary. Dave stated that there was a sign when first entering the Keys that declared them to be a “Wildlife Sanctuary”. Many remembered the sign, but no one could remember the exact wording. There was no final decision nor any conclusion to the matter.

I relocated to Ohio in 1992 and although no longer active in the Southern Lepidopterists’ Society, I maintained contact with a number of members in the south, as well as several other Lepidopterists in Florida. I was informed that the Florida Keys were protected by the State of Florida, and that collecting in the Keys was no longer permitted. A negative attitude towards collecting was always prevalent by the naturalist that were responsible for the State Parks in the Florida Keys. Although several Lepidopterists continued to visit and collect in the Florida Keys, the perceived threat that collecting was illegal was always present.

In March of 1998, I relocated back to south Florida. I sought and received collecting/research permits for several State Parks in District 5 (District 5 includes the State Parks in the Florida Keys). I did not request a permit for the State Parks in the Florida Keys, however, they were included as part of the permit I received. During a conversation with Dick Roberts, the Naturalist at Jonathon Dickenson State Park and George Jones, Naturalist for District 5 of the Florida State Parks, I ask if my permit for the State Parks in the Florida Keys was effective for all of the Keys. I told them that I understood that all of the Florida Keys was considered a Wildlife Sanctuary. They had no knowledge that the Florida Keys were a Wildlife Sanctuary nor were the Keys protected by the State of Florida. However, they informed me that the ocean surrounding the Florida Keys was a Marine Sanctuary and under the control of the Federal Government, but how that was being governed and enforced was extremely vague to both of them. I decided to investigate this situation fully.

I telephoned the Division of Parks and Recreation of the State of Florida in Tallahassee to request a collecting/research permit for the Florida Keys. I was informed that only property owned by the State of Florida required a collecting/research permit. I asked if the State of Florida had declared the Florida Keys a Wildlife Sanctuary. They had no knowledge of any such declaration. Several weeks later during a collecting trip to the Lower Keys, I visited the Office of the Monroe County Attorney where I learned that they had no knowledge of the Keys being a Wildlife Sanctuary. I was instructed to look through the Monroe County Statutes at the Monroe County Library pertaining to the collecting of wildlife. Several weeks later I visited the Key Largo branch of the Monroe County Library and reviewed all the Statutes from 1998 to 1975. I found nothing pertaining to the collection of any wildlife, even on county owned property.

In September of 1998, I was traveling down US1 to Big Pine Key when I passed two government vehicles that were parked side by side in a parking area on Grassy Key. One vehicle was a Fish & Wildlife Officer and the other vehicle was a State Wildlife Officer. I made a “U” turn and with net in hand approached the two vehicles. I asked both officers if it was OKAY to collect butterflies and moths in the Keys. Both stated that I could do so anywhere I wanted to as long as I was not on State or Federal Property. I was also warned about endangered species. I inquired about the Ocean and they told me that all of the water around the Keys was a Marine Sanctuary, however, the government had yet to establish authority other than to protect the coral reefs. They were unclear as to who was responsible for actual management.

I concluded that a permit was not required.

In December of 1999, David Fine of Delray Beach, Bob Beiriger of Loxahatchee and I began to visit the Keys regularly. We placed bait traps from Key Largo to Big Pine Key. Dave and I took turns visiting the traps. During one of Dave’s visits in February of 2000, he took a specimen of Polygonia interrogationis in a bait trap on Key Largo. This was the first time this species was reported from the Keys. Dr. Tom Emmel has been working with the Lepidoptera in the Keys and Dave sent him an e-mail message on 3 February 2000 to report taking Polygonia interrogationis in the Keys. The following message was received.

Dated: 3 February 2000
Dear Dave:

Thank you for your letter of February 3. You are right that the Polygonia record is a new county record for Monroe County! That was quite a catch to make on Key largo. I assume you have State of Florida State Park collecting permits for the collecting you are doing in the Keys. The entire Florida keys area has been declared a “State Park” for the purposes of insect collecting since the 1980's, and an annually issued permit from the State is necessary to collect down there. On Big Pine Key, you could get into additional trouble if you do not have permits from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which controls the Key Deer National Wildlife Refuge lands there. They are particularly sensitive to Anaea floridalis and Strymon bartrami species because Mark Salvato did several tears of work down there, showing that they were Threatened status and the few colonies needed to be carefully nurtured to increase. If you are down there without either the State or Federal permits, you could be in big trouble in a hurry, not only for a future trip you might make, but for the specimens you have in your collection from the past without permit documentation. This is an unfortunate situation (the delineation of all the Keys as a protected area for butterflies) but one which the State felt was necessary to declare some years ago.

Best regards,
Tom Emmel

Dave forwarded the message to me. The warning was very clear, and, again that statement that all of the Florida Keys were protected surfaced. Because of Dr. Emmel’s involvement with the Lepidoptera in the Keys, I E-mailed Dr. Emmel twice requesting clarification on the Florida Keys status as Wildlife Sanctuary and to learn who or where I could apply for a collecting/research permit. To date, Dr. Emmel has not responded to my requests.

In November of 1999, Dave Fine, Bob Beiriger and I were again traveling down US1 towards Big Pine Key. We had just crossed the bridge onto Big Pine Key when we came upon three government vehicles parked on the side of the road, the first vehicle was occupied by two U.S. Fish & Wildlife officers. The second vehicle was occupied by a Florida State Park Wildlife Officer. The third vehicle was occupied by a Florida Fish & Game Officer and a Monroe County Sheriff Deputy. They were operating a speed trap on US1 which passed through Key Deer habitat (speed limit on all of Big Pine Key is 35 MPH to help protect the Key Deer population). We stopped behind them and with nets in hand approached the vehicles. I was immediately recognized by the Florida Fish & Game Officer. Again I asked all of them if it was illegal to collect butterflies and moths in the Florida Keys. The Florida Fish & Game Officer said, “nothing has changed since you asked me the last time.” I told them we had heard that collecting may be illegal in the Keys and that all of the Keys was a Wildlife Sanctuary. All of them told us that Big Pine Key was a “Sanctuary” for Key Deer, and that they had no knowledge of the Keys being a Wildlife Sanctuary.

Are the Florida Keys a Wildlife Sanctuary? No one in the State of Florida agencies in Tallahassee, nor Monroe County, nor in any of the various locations that I contacted for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has any knowledge of the Florida Keys being a Wildlife Sanctuary. I have come to the conclusion that someone wanted to help deter the collecting of butterflies by stating the State of Florida had declared the Florida Keys a Wildlife Sanctuary. This statement has been believed to be fact and spread wide and far, by both professional and amateur alike, without anyone ever having documentation that the Florida Keys were in fact a Wildlife Sanctuary. I also believe that many people remember seeing the “sign” when traveling onto the Keys, vaguely remembered what it stated or misunderstood the wording. As a result, they believed what they were told by others.

Can anyone can go to the Florida Keys and collect butterflies, moths and any other insect without a permit? The answer is YES, as long as they are not on land owned or controlled by the State of Florida or Federal government where collecting is prohibited and a permit is required. There are several endangered species in the Keys and regardless of where they are found or occur in the Keys, they are protected and cannot be collected. Should you collect in the Keys, please remember, the entire length of the Florida Keys is under extreme pressure from development. Many species that occur in the Keys are threatened and should not be collected. Not even a single male should be taken. Their existence hangs in the balance. There are only very small areas of habitat remaining, and many of them are under pressure from development. Collect with extreme care, and if you are not sure, don’t collect it.

Am I correct in my conclusions? If the Keys are a Wildlife Sanctuary, did the State of Florida, Monroe County, or the Federal Government declare them to be so. Please provide me with the date that the Florida Keys became a Wildlife Sanctuary and by whom. I want to contact them for confirmation. If all of the Florida Keys are a Wildlife Sanctuary, I will provide the information to the News along with contact information.

[pittendrighinsects]

thanks, Leroy, this is very useful

Quintin