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The darling of famous biologist Paul Ehrlich, the Bay checkerspot butterfly has enjoyed plenty of scientific attention over the years. In fact, since 1960, its population size has probably undergone more observation than that of any other insect. Ehrlich developed the concept of metapopulations by studying the checkerspot, now a conservation paradigm. How ironic that the butterfly’s numbers were at record-low levels by the ’80s — and it’s been in long-term decline ever since.
ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT PROFILE
PROTECTION STATUS: Threatened
YEAR PLACED ON LIST: 1987
CRITICAL HABITAT: Approximately 23,903 acres in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties designated in 2001
RECOVERY PLAN: 1998
RANGE: San Francisco peninsula, San Mateo County, Santa Clara County
THREATS: Urban development, pesticides, nitrogen deposition, overgrazing, global warming, and air pollution
POPULATION TREND: The Bay checkerspot has been eliminated from most of its serpentine habitat around the San Francisco Bay, and it is extinct in Contra Costa, Alameda, and San Francisco counties. By 1998, there were only five remaining core areas that supported Bay checkerspots and fewer than 12,000 acres of suitable habitat.
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SAVING THE BAY CHECKERSPOT BUTTERFLY
Luckily for the Bay checkerspot, its drawn-out population plunge was observed early on by biologists, earning it a federal Endangered Species Act listing in 1987. But the sensitive butterfly and its native host plants, which need specialized serpentine soil systems to survive, are no match for human development and nonnative plant invasions. Since the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service failed to designate critical habitat for the species after its listing, the Center filed suit and ultimately won more than 23,000 acres of habitat protections for the butterfly. And we’ve been working hard to make sure key checkerspot habitat in the Bay Area doesn’t turn into housing developments and golf courses.
Like all butterflies, the Bay checkerspot is extremely vulnerable to pesticides, which contaminate its host plants and poison its larvae. To protect species from toxic chemicals, the Center is challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s registration and authorization-for-use of 46 pesticides in and upstream of habitats for San Francisco Bay Area endangered species, including the Bay checkerspot. We’ve also released a comprehensive report, Poisoning Our Imperiled Wildlife, detailing the risks posed by pesticides to the checkerspot and other endangered wildlife in the Bay Area. We continue to monitor and oppose harmful chemical pesticide use in California through our Pesticides Reduction Campaign.
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Contact: Jeff Miller
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