Page 24
The INDEPENDENT, January 21, 2010
Zoo announces butterfly recovery effort gaining foothold at beach
A group of Northwest butter-
fly conservationists got some
great news at its end-of-year
recap meeting. After comparing
notes and crunching a few
numbers, the group realized
that the Oregon silverspot but-
terfly, a species it’s been work-
ing hard to stabilize, may finally
have gained a foothold at a key
spot on the Oregon coast.
Each December, conserva-
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tionists from the Oregon Zoo,
Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo,
Lewis and Clark College, the
Nature Conservancy and the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
meet to discuss strategy and
assess the past year’s work.
For 10 years, these organiza-
tions have been rearing sil-
verspot larvae and pupae, then
releasing them into the wild in
an effort to stabilize and revital-
ize the dwindling native popula-
tions.
It hasn’t always been en-
couraging. At one release site,
on U.S. Forest Service land
near Yachats on the Oregon
coast, fewer than 20 silverspots
had been observed in previous
years – some years, only one
or two butterflies were detect-
ed.
In 2009, though, a field biol-
ogist estimated more than 400
butterflies to be in the area.
“This is terrific news and
strong evidence that what we're
doing is really making a differ-
ence in the field,” said Oregon
Zoo conservation scientist
David Shepherdson. “The rear-
ing of plants by our living col-
lections and horticulture staff
both to feed larvae and restore
habitat has played a critical role
in the restoration of this
species.”
The zoo’s horticulture de-
partment raised thousands of
western blue violet (Viola adun-
ca) starts to plant at the release
site, providing a crucial food
source and allowing the larvae
to pupate.
Zoo butterfly conservationist
Mary Jo Andersen was particu-
larly encouraged by the fact
that silverspots released at the
site this year developed from
the caterpillar stage, a good in-
dicator that the population is
sustainable and can return in
See Butterfly page 20
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An Oregon silverspot butterfly displays its distinctive mark-
ings. Photo by Michael Durham, courtesy of the Oregon Zoo.
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