California community teams up with land trust to save endangered butterfly
Habitat loss has restricted the endangered El Segundo blue butterfly to a handful of locations near Los Angeles.
June 17-23 is Pollinator Week — learn more here. A version of this story originally appeared in the Spring 2024 issue of Saving Land magazine.
The El Segundo blue butterfly is a federally endangered butterfly endemic to coastal dunes along Southern California. Habitat loss has restricted the butterfly to a handful of locations near Los Angeles.
According to the El Segundo Blue Coalition, the butterfly has been listed as endangered for nearly 50 years now and continues to face threats from development and habitat fragmentation, as well as invasive species:
On June 1, 1976, the El Segundo blue butterfly was listed as an endangered species at the federal level. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the historic population averaged 750,000 butterflies a year. The endemic butterfly’s range extends from the Ballona Wetlands south to the Palos Verdes Peninsula. This species relies on coastal dune habitat and a single host plant, seacliff buckwheat. All four stages of the critter’s complete metamorphosis life cycle of one year depends on this plant. They fly for only a few months a year in summer and each butterfly lives for just 4 to 14 days. After mating, the female butterfly lays eggs in the buckwheat flowers. Three to five days later, the caterpillars hatch, then feed on the vegetation and form a chrysalis in the leaf litter, sand or leaves of the plant to enable them to hibernate through the winter.
In Redondo Beach, South Bay Parkland Conservancy is working with partners — including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Coastal Program, LA Conservation Corps and Los Angeles County Department of Beaches & Harbors — to restore habitat for the butterfly along the city’s ocean bluffs.
The restoration involves removing invasive species, such as ice plant, and planting seacliff buckwheat and other native dune plants. The partnership has improved three acres of habitat for the butterfly and other pollinators and has support and funding to expand restoration on at least four more acres. Project monitoring observed a three-fold increase of El Segundo blue butterflies on the project site, likely because of the increased buckwheat and removal of invasive plants.
At-risk young adults and school-aged youth employed through the Conservation Corps have carried out most of the restoration work, providing them with on-the-job training and education in conservation.
South Bay Parkland Conservancy continues to maintain the restoration site through volunteer community events.