America’s Teaching Zoo at Moorpark College has been a captive rearing site for the endangered Palos Verdes blue butterfly under the supervision of biology instructor Jana Johnson since 2007. To date, the project has yielded 10,000 butterflies. A cohort was released back into native habitat in 2008 and there is now a stable population of around 300 individuals in the wild.
On Friday, March 20, 2009 the second cohort of buterlfies will be released at the Defense Fuel Support Point in San Pedro.
The partners in this project are the Defense Energy Support Center, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Moorpark College, The Urban Wildlands Group, and the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy are hosting a release of endangered Palos Verdes blue butterflies
Participants in many aspects of the project are being recognized for their successes. Butterfly Project alumna Mandy Lansing has been nominated for a $5000 scholarship through the Morris K.Udall Foundation. Lansing is at CSU Channel Islands as she continues work toward a B.S. in Evolutionary Biology with an ultimate goal of a M.S. in Ornithology. Johnson has been nominated for the 2010 Indianapolis Prize, a $100,000 award given every other year by the Indianapolis Zoological Society. The award is for achievement in the conservation of an animal species.The Urban Wildlands Group which oversees MC’s Butterfly Project contracts has been nominated for a US Navy award for its work with the Palos Verdes blue on land that is located on a Navy base in San Pedro.
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