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# Butterfly counts underway at DSCC prairie

By Stefanie HauckDLA Land and Maritime Public Affairs

                COLUMBUS, Ohio  –              
On a rainy, windswept early summer day, about half a dozen volunteers descended on the three-acre prairie habitat on the north side of Defense Supply Center Columbus to participate in the first butterfly count of the season. 

                A sign educates visitors of the importance of the prairie habitat, located near the north perimeter of Defense Supply Center Columbus. A butterfly count was held at the prairie June 26. The next count will be on July 17 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Anyone with base access is welcome to come out and spend 15 minutes counting butterflies and other pollinators. The prairie continuously blooms from about July to the end of September. (Photo by Arthur Hylton/DSCC)                            Butterfly count                            A sign educates visitors of the importance of the prairie habitat, located near the north perimeter of Defense Supply Center Columbus. A butterfly count was held at the prairie June 26. The next count will be on July 17 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Anyone with base access is welcome to come out and spend 15 minutes counting butterflies and other pollinators. The prairie continuously blooms from about July to the end of September. (Photo by Arthur Hylton/DSCC)            SHARE IMAGE:Download ImageImage DetailsPhoto By: Arthur Hylton/DSCCVIRIN: 240626-D-DM952-6287

The count, held on June 26, provided a baseline of the number of butterflies and other pollinators using the prairie, said Nicole Goicochea, physical scientist for Defense Logistics Agency Installation Management – Columbus’ Environmental Division.

The prairie, established by the division in 2017, boosts a high amount of biodiversity, with peak numbers usually occurring mid-July to early September.

Kristine Freels, DLA Installation Management – Columbus site director, said it was her first time visiting the prairie and it won’t be her last.

“It’s amazing what the environmental team has done to support local wildlife,” she said, noting that the habitat is not only supporting a variety of species, but also serves a greater purpose of aiding the installation in its climate resiliency efforts.

“It acts as an additional stormwater control by soaking up extra rainwater to help prevent flooding,” Goicochea said.

Species seen in the past include monarch, eastern tiger swallowtail, cloudless sulphur, orange sulphur, black swallowtail and cabbage white butterflies plus hundreds of bees, bumblebees, beetles, pollinating flies, dragonflies, damselflies and more.

Goicochea said the next count will be July 17 from 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. Anyone with base access is encouraged to spend 15 minutes to walk the prairie path and record any butterflies or caterpillars observed.

An additional count will be held on Sept. 4.

In the future, Eagle Eye Golf Course’s prairie areas will also be included in the counts. Those areas were designated a Monarchs in the Rough site by Audubon International in 2023 and were overseeded with milkweed, the host plant for the monarch.

The prairie habitat located just west of the Army Corps of Engineers’ Building 330, near the north perimeter, continuously blooms from about mid-July to the beginning of October.

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Defense Supply Center Columbusbutterfly countthree-acre prairie habitatClimate Resiliencegreen infrastructureNatural Resources Conservation