Environmental plan saves endangered species

On 200 acres of sand dunes in Southern California, a butterfly that once seemed destined for extinction is thriving again because of a restoration project led by Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA). Today, a preserve at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) is home to more than 60,000 El Segundo blue butterflies and contains 43 acres of original dunes that are virtually undisturbed.

At one time 16 coastal dune habitat systems encompassing a total of 2,800 acres spread along the West Coast, from Point Conception north of Santa Barbara, Calif., to Enseñada, Mexico. The area was home to a variety of creatures, including the El Segundo blue butterfly, the sand dune tarantula, the El Segundo crab spider, the El Segundo Jerusalem cricket and the San Diego horned lizard.

As development increased, the dunes were cleared for residential building, and foreign plants were introduced to the area. By the late 1950s most of the dunes had vanished along with their native plants, and the El Segundo blue butterfly existed on only three known sites. In 1976, the butterfly became the first insect to be listed as a Federal Endangered Species when the population was estimated to be 5,000.

When LAWA began to develop on a 300-acre abandoned subdivision at the west end of LAX, it learned that 20 acres of dunes contained a large butterfly population. The agency planned a golf course on 100 acres of the land and devoted 200 acres, including a buffer zone, to the butterflies.

The $500,000 dune restoration project began in 1986. To encourage the comeback of the butterfly, LAWA focused on re-introducing the coastal buckwheat plant, the blue butterfly’s natural food source. According to Steve Crowther, airport environment manager for LAWA, the area had to be rid of ice plants and acacia, non-native vegetation that chokes the buckwheat. Buckwheat was replanted to cover the remaining driveways, streets and foundations of the cleared subdivision.

The project was completed in 1994, and LAWA continues to monitor and maintain the dunes; it conducts annual blue butterfly population and semi-annual coastal buckwheat plant surveys. From its low of 5,000 in the mid-1970s, the butterfly population has increased to 60,000, according to LAWA’s latest block count. In addition to harboring the butterfly, the dunes are again home to more than a thousand different plant and animal species.