Addendum A. Species and Habitat Descriptions 3.1 Invertebrate Animals For each of the five butterfly species that are addressed in the HCP, we include a description of its conservation status, population trends and distribution, life history and ecology, and habitat characteristics. When known, we also include species-specific threats and causes for decline. These causes are in addition to a common set of causes for decline for all five butterfly species, which include: • Habitat Loss: o Habitat loss is the consistent, primary factor driving species extinctions and declines world-wide (Groom et al. 2006), and the most common threat to butterfly populations (New et al. 1995). Prairies and oak woodlands in south Puget Sound have been converted to development, agriculture, gravel mines, and lost to forest succession resulting from elimination of fire and other beneficial sources of disturbance. In 1997, Crawford and Hall conservatively estimated that over 60,000 ha (>148,263 ac) of prairie existed historically in the south Puget Sound region, and that only 3% of that remained dominated by native vegetation. Prairie loss likely has continued since 1997, but current estimates are not available for this region. Refined the estimates of grassland habitat for the entire WPG ecosystem, and estimated the total amount of prairie, oak woodland, and grassland bluffs and balds prior to Euro-American settlement was over 72,000 ha (180,000 ac) (Chappell et al. 2001). • Habitat Fragmentation: o Crawford and Hall (1997) found that historically in south Puget Sound there were 233 prairie sites, averaging 250 ha (618 ac) in size, including 18 large prairies (>405 ha), and contrasted that to 1997 conditions: 29 prairie sites, averaging 175 ha (432 ac) in size, with only 2 large prairies extant. Fragmentation of prairies directly threatens prairie butterflies by creating smaller and isolated populations, which increases the potential for population loss and inbreeding. • Invasion of Prairie Communities: o Invasive plants have dramatically altered the ecological function of Pacific Northwest prairies (Dunwiddie and Bakker 2011). Woody shrubs, including Scotch broom, and non-native grasses, especially tall oatgrass (Arrhenatherum elatius), bentgrasses (Agrostis), and sweet vernal grass (Anthoxanthum odoratum) have invaded most extant south Puget Sound prairies. Uncontrolled, these plants dominate native prairie vegetation, excluding butterfly host and nectar plants, and 1 change vegetation structure and soil conditions. The invasion of native grasslands by exotic plants is a common threat to grassland butterflies (Warren 1993, Schultz 1998), and has occurred rapidly at historic and extant prairie butterfly sites (e.g., Hays et al. 2000). Many butterflies avoid areas with tall vegetation, including areas with Scotch broom and tall oatgrass (e.g., Hays et al. 2000, Potter and Olson 2012, Henry and Schultz 2012). • Alteration of Natural Disturbance Regimes o Native Americans regularly burned prairies in the Pacific Northwest to support food production and manage hunting sites (Norton 1979, Boyd 1986, Agee 1993), and this process supported open prairie and savannah. Soil disturbance also regularly occurred from both Native American harvest of bulbs and rhizome plant material (Turner 1999), and the activity of burrowing mammals, especially the Mazama Pocket Gopher (Huntly and Inouye 1988). Cultural practices changed when Euro- Americans began to settle the Pacific Northwest and the prairies; soil and vegetation disturbance from fire setting and prairie plant harvesting ceased. Encroachment by trees and shrubs, first native species and then non-native, combined with introductions of invasive grasses and herbaceous species, resulted in the loss of prairie due to forest encroachment, and dramatic alterations to the extant prairie. • Prairie management. o Fire, herbicide use, mowing, and other prairie management techniques are important tools for re-creating or simulating disturbance mechanisms that historically maintained prairies, reducing invasive species, and restoring endangered species habitat connectivity (Dunwiddie and Bakker 2011, Schultz et al. 2011). These prairie management practices, implemented to restore or enhance prairie vegetation and wildlife habitat, also can directly or indirectly harm butterflies (Schultz et al. 2011). Effects of these practices on butterflies are not completely understood. Prairie management in areas occupied by butterfly species of concern is necessary and must be undertaken with special methods and considerations to reduce or eliminate harm to these species. 3.1.1 Hoary Elfin (Callophrys polios) Puget Trough segregate 3.1.1.1 Conservation Status The Hoary elfin is a butterfly in the Gossamer Wings Family (Lycaenidae). The Hoary Elfin is a south Puget Sound endemic and was recognized as a butterfly of conservation concern in the first Washington butterfly conservation status assessment (Pyle 1989) due to the small number of isolated populations, specialized and restricted habitat, and known threats to their habitat. Since that time, renewed taxonomic assessment, limited focal surveys by a few agencies and individuals, as well as limited life history observation have identified extant populations and confirmed the restricted nature of Hoary Elfin habitat and distribution. Today, this butterfly remains a species of conservation concern (Schultz et al. 2011). In Washington, it is listed by the Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) as one of 19 butterfly Species of Greatest 2 Conservation Need in Washington’s Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy (WDFW 2005). The species is not listed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). 3.1.1.2 Population Trends and Distribution The Hoary Elfin Puget Trough segregate inhabits low-elevation grasslands (Pierce and Thurston counties) and open, heath woodlands (Mason and Kitsap counties) in the south Puget Sound region. The Puget Trough Hoary Elfin is a remarkably disjunct subspecies; neighboring polios subspecies occur hundreds of miles distant in far northeastern Washington, the southern central Oregon Coast, and in the Oregon Blue Mountains. Fewer than a dozen sites are known from Kitsap and Mason counties, and Hoary Elfin has not been confirmed on most for several decades (Hinchliff 1996). Four populations are documented from southern Pierce County (Hinchliff 1996; Gilbert pers. comm.); only one population has recently been confirmed extant and it inhabits the Artillery Impact Area of Joint Base Lewis-McChord (Gilbert pers. comm.). Ten populations are documented in Thurston County, including 2 on Joint Base Lewis-McChord; 5 are known extant (see Table 1). Table 1. Known locations for Hoary Elfin in Thurston County, with current status as of 2014. Location Last Record Status Bald Hill Natural Area Preserve 2014 Extant Johnson Prairie, Joint Base Lewis-McChord 2007 Unknown Mima Mounds Natural Area Preserve 2014 Extant Rocky Prairie Natural Area Preserve 2014 Extant Scatter Creek Wildlife Area North 2014 Extant Scatter Creek Wildlife Area South 2004 Unknown Tenalquot Prairie 2013 Extant Weir Prairie, Joint Base Lewis-McChord 2005 Unknown West Rocky Prairie Wildlife Area 1983 Unknown Wolf Haven 2006 Unknown Most Hoary Elfin populations in Thurston County consist of a small number of individuals (<50), with a few sites likely supporting populations of over 200-300 individuals (A. Potter, WDFW, unpubl. data). Hoary Elfins venture little from their natal host Kinnikinnick (Arctostaphylos uva- ursi) patches, such that multiple separate populations and/or metpopulations likely occur within the same site. 3.1.1.3 Life History and Ecology Hoary Elfins are highly sedentary butterflies; they do not migrate and spend their entire life cycle (egg, larva, pupa and adult) within or close to Kinnikinnick host plant patches, typically within 10- 20 meters (A. Potter, WDFW, unpubl. data). Hoary Elfins are univoltine; which means they complete a single life cycle annually. One of the first butterflies to emerge in the spring on south Puget Sound prairies, adults are present between late-April and late-May. Males begin emerging first, followed by females; late-season individuals are primarily or solely females (A. Potter, WDFW, unpubl. data). 3 Weather influences butterfly emergence and the flight period duration, with wet or cold conditions delaying emergence, and conversely, warm, dry conditions promoting earlier emergence. Weather conditions also affect the total flight period duration. Hoary Elfins often perch motionless or while rubbing their hindwings together on Kinnikinnick (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi), a low-growing, prostrate, woody shrub in the Ericaceae (Heath or Heather) family. The butterfly’s deep brown, mauve, and frosty (hoary) wing coloring camouflages them superbly in Kinnikinnick. Adults court, mate, and nectar in or near Kinnikinnick; eggs are laid singly, larvae feed, and pupae overwinter on the host plant as well (Pyle 2002). James & Nunnallee (2011) reared Hoary Elfins in captivity and describe their life cycle and life stages (egg, larva, pupa) (pp. 176-177). Eggs hatched in 5-9 days, larvae fed on kinnikinnick leaves and had 4 instar stages, and pupation occurred in protected locations approximately 25-29 days post egg-hatch (James and Nunnallee 2011). Kinnikinnick is the sole host for this butterfly, and is also the primary nectar source for Hoary Elfin. Other spring-flowering species growing within or adjacent to Kinnikinnick are occasionally also used, they