Celebrating the Unsung Heros of Conservation: US Navy gives Flight to Endangered PV Blue Butterfly By Louise Olfarnes Manager of Communications, Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy
Palos Verdes Blue Butterfly Recovery Partners released captive-bred butterflies onto restored habitat on the Defense Fuel Support Point in San Pedro on May 23, 2024 during LA Fleet Week with U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Brad Rosen. The release celebrated the role the US Navy has played as a partner for the conservation of Palos Verdes Blue Butterfly since a small population was rediscovered there in 1994.
For the event, the partners comprised of the Teaching Zoo at Moorpark College, U.S. Navy, U.S. Defense Logistics Agency, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, California Department of Fish & Wildlife, the Urban Wildlands Group and the City of Rancho Palos Verdes, joined together for the release of 479 male and female blue butterflies into the wild on the location of historic breeding grounds for the once thought extinct species within the Defense Fuel Support Point grounds in San Pedro which is also home to the Land Conservancy’s Native Plant nursery. Special guests included Habor Commissioner Lee Williams, City of RPV Mayor John Cruikshank, US Fish & Wildlife’s Eric Porter and Mary Beth Woulfe, Travis Longcore, Science Director, Urban Wildlands Group, (ret) Major General, US Airforce Craig Cooning and Jess Morton of the South Bay Audubon.
The release of the PV blue butterfly is the latest example of one of the most successful recovery efforts for an endangered species in California history. Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy Executive Director Adrienne Mohan was “thrilled to highlight the release as an example of the Navy’s commitment to and role as a partner in the conservation of natural lands and wildlife. We are excited about the program’s impact with sightings of the PV blue from wild populations released a year or more earlier at several release sites on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.”
The Palos Verdes blue butterfly, which serves as a pollinator for Peninsula habitats, is a key indicator of local biodiversity dependent on only two native plant species: milkvetch (Astragalus trichopodus var. lonchus) and common deerweed (Acmispon glaber). The Conservancy grows deerweed and milkvetch (aka rattlepod), removes competing invasives, plants and cares for restoration sites to create the only habitat where the PV blue butterfly can be reintroduced back into the wild. The Conservancy grows roughly 50,000 native plants each year, and planting about 20,000 per year in restoration projects– helping ensure that vital plants are available for the blue butterfly’s and other species of concern such as the cactus wren and CA gnatcatcher, recovery and survival.
If you are interested in finding out more about the Palos Verdes Blue Butterfly recovery efforts or in volunteer opportunities to help created endangered species habitat, please visit: pvplc.org.