"The thing butterflies really have going for in is their color. They're really very beautiful creatures. That's they're selling point," said Ty Fredrik, manager of Longs Drugs.
To appeal to the public's fondness for beautiful things, the store has partnered up with Sheila Boone to sell a collection of framed, color photographs of the colorful fluttering wonders in an attempt to save them. Along with supplying in-store photo processing, Long's has also donated retail space to sell the, pictures. A Texas supplier has also joined in by donating more than '50 frames and matte materials.
All proceeds from the sale of the photographs, retailing for $19.95, will go towards helping with the daily operating budget of the Daniel Boone Butterfly Palace, Inc., a company dedicated towards preserving butterflies of which Boone is CEO.
The five photos chosen for the collection were taken by local photographer Siamak Sehat in the field showing butterflies in their natural habitat.
"We had collected so many beautiful photographs of butterflies over the years that I finally thought to myself, 'Wow, some of these are really wonderful and I'll bet there are people out there who would really enjoy them" Boone said. Many of the pictures capture a close-up look at the orange-and-black spangled brilliance of the @Western Monarch, which migrates yearly to eucalyptus groves along the Central Coast. Many of those sites are now being threatened by the effects or urban growth and pesticides, Boone said.
"Scientists estimate there are a little more than 12 dozen sites left in California," Boone said, ,Our goal is to create public awareness that the Western Monarch habitats are an endangered phenomenon.
She hopes to help spark some of that awareness through the sale of the photographs, which come in the middle of plans by Boone to launch an international campaign aimed at saving several threatened monarch sites.
"There are a few we are looking at to actively protect, located both on public and private land and including property owned by oil companies, she said.
Boone his also recently launched a website http://members.aol.com/dbpalace/ that includes information about her organization, a list of world-reknown scientists and butterfly specialists she is currently working with, including the Honorable Miriam Rothschild creator of a 90-acre butterfly preserve in England. and Kingston Leong entomology professor at Cal Poly and important butterfly facts. She is also working with "Better Homes and Gardens" magazine "Birds & Bloom" and field editor for Outdoor Photographer magazine, George Lepp of Morro Bay, to promote an annual butterfly photo contest.
All these things, she hopes, will help move closer to finalizing, her more ambitious vision of building, the Daniel Boone Butterfly Palace. a proposed premiere environmental education and research center to study and research rare and endangered butterflies.
Boone, the fifth great-grand-daughter of the famed pioneer, said that while a site for the multimillion dollar facility has not yet been chosen - she is currently in negotiations with several parties, including oil companies - it will likely be located somewhere between Santa Barbara and Nipomo.
The project, already being touted as "the Smithsonian of the West for butterflies" and promising to give Hearst Castle a run for its tourist dollars, has already garnered support from a large number of farmers, businesses and politicians. "Our mission statement has always been to support the community where we reside that has supported us for the past 10 years. And what better way than to support an effort dedicated to preserving the beautiful monarch butterflies that continue to bring enjoyment to those living or visiting here?" Fredrick said.
Times Press Recorder, Glenn Boliver,
Photographer