Each new generation of the El Segundo Blue is a sign of hope. The species has been federally endangered for decades, stung by the decimation of sea-cliff buckwheat plants amid urban sprawl.
SAVING THE NATIONAL BUTTERFLY CENTER AND A WILDLIFE REFUGE CORRIDOR FROM IMMINENT DEVASTATION.
A smaller monarch population in the western United States that migrates between California and the Pacific Northwest is disappearing even faster, dropping from 1.2 million in the 1990s to just 30,000 last year -- a 98 percent drop.
“Butterflies raised by unregulated commercial interests may spread diseases and parasites to wild populations, with devastating results. Often, butterflies are released great distances from their points of origin, resulting in inappropriate genetic mixing of different populations when the same species is locally present. When it is not, a non-native species is being introduced in the area of release. At best, this confuses studies of butterfly distribution and migration; at worst, it may result in deleterious changes to the local ecology.”
https://baynature.org/2019/07/23/butterflies-are-more-than-party-favors/
It’s rare to see butterflies in everyday life, so imagine millions of them fluttering along forest groves. That’s exactly what happens every fall in areas around Monterey, an ocean city off the coast of California.
https://www.prevention.com/life/amp28505274/monarch-butterflies-migration-monterey-bay/
