The once promising comeback of the endangered Palos Verdes blue butterfly is sputtering in the face of the drought that has gripped California for four years.
In fact, there have been no blue butterflies — zero — even sighted for two years at the Navy fuel depot property off of North Gaffey Street in San Pedro, where the thumbnail-size butterfly, once thought to be extinct, was rediscovered in the mid-1990s to the surprise of biologists.
The butterfly’s no-shows in 2014 and 2015 probably were predictable.
“Startling but not surprising,” is how one of the contractors put it, considering California’s long dry spell, said Navy biologist Bob Schallmann.
The two primary host plants for the delicate butterfly — deerweed and locoweed — have been severely diminished by the lack of sufficient rainfall over the past four years.
So what’s being done?
“Other than doing a rain dance?” Schallmann joked. “Although we don’t like to mess with the natural system, we were faced with desperate times that required desperate measures so we decided to get some irrigation in place to bring the (butterflies’) food plant up so we can have butterflies in the future.”
The decision to do some limited watering was made along with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service “because this is a critically endangered species,” Schallmann said.
It’s been a disheartening few years for those dedicated to reviving the species after it was rediscovered 20 years ago.
“The butterfly, unfortunately, is taking a few hits with this extended drought,” said Jane Hendron a spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department.
There is hope, however, that some of the pupas in the ground will survive the drought.
“The pupa can remain in the ground for as long as two years, but there’s not a lot of good science on it, so it may be longer,” Schallmann said. “So maybe when conditions are right, they will emerge.”
As backup, there are about 1,450 pupa being raised in captivity under a program at Moorpark College headed up by professor Jana Johnson.
“We still have a very robust population in captivity, but nothing in the wild (on the Navy land) in the past two years,” Schallmann said. “The main culprit is the drought.”
Smaller than the size of a nickel and only emerging once a year — for about a week in early spring — the Palos Verdes blue butterfly was thought to be extinct after its last known habitat, a park area in Rancho Palos Verdes, was bulldozed in 1983.
But in 1994, a small colony of about 60 turned up on the Defense Fuel Supply Point property in San Pedro, where an all-out effort was launched to nurture the species back to life.
A 2009 release of captive butterflies on the Navy land drew crowds of awed onlookers.
Crucial to bringing back the butterfly in more sustainable numbers, Schallman said, will be making sure there are several habitat areas managed by other agencies.
Some blue butterflies were possibly spotted at the Chandler Preserve in Rolling Hills Estates in the past couple years, he said. Other areas include Deane Dana Friendship Park and Trump National Golf Course, both in Rancho Palos Verdes.
At most, about 200 butterflies have been sighted at the Navy depot property, according to Schallmann. The numbers have varied year to year, however, with the 2008 count down to 45.
Will the butterfly ever reach a point where it won’t require such intense nurturing and management?
“I’d like to think so,” Schallmann said. “But it’s going to take a lot of effort and a lot of different organizations to do it.”
