By Melani Morose Edelstein|March 2026|Issue 70
The Palos Verdes Blue butterfly, one of the rarest butterflies in the world, is making a fragile comeback on California’s Palos Verdes Peninsula. Once believed extinct, the federally endangered species is now the focus of an extensive habitat restoration and conservation effort led by the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy and a coalition of scientists, agencies, and community volunteers.This spring, hope is taking flight on the Palos Verdes Peninsula as conservationists ramp up efforts to recover one of the rarest butterflies on Earth: the Palos Verdes Blue Butterfly.
Once presumed extinct and now federally endangered, the tiny butterfly is returning to newly restored habitat across the Peninsula as part of an expanding, hands-on, multi-agency recovery effort led by the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy.
Palos Verdes Magazine has been covering the Conservancy’s restoration efforts for many years, we explore how volunteers are helping rebuild native ecosystems for this butterfly but also remove invasive plants that don’t belong and can potentially be fire hazards. You can read some of our other stories here about the work they continue to do and how the Land Conservancy was the very first organization to use goats for fire grazing. We have the story behind the goats!
“The Palos Verdes Blue butterfly was thought to be extinct after its last known habitat was destroyed. Then in 1994, it was rediscovered in San Pedro at the Defense Fuel Supply Point on a small patch of native habitat, and that sighting mobilized everyone to begin recovery efforts,” says Cris Sarabia, Conservation Director of the Conservancy.
A Rare Butterfly Returns
Earlier this month, field teams from the Conservancy and its partners surveyed potential release sites across the Palos Verdes Nature Preserve and surrounding Peninsula lands.
During the survey, they spotted a wild Palos Verdes Blue fluttering through coastal sage scrub — a vivid sign that restoration work is gaining ground.
“To have them come up on their own, it’s a huge deal,” Sarabia says with a smile. “This butterfly is teeny, like the size of your pinky nail. To see one with your naked eye is really amazing.”
In recent years, the Conservancy has accelerated habitat restoration across key reserves. Crews and community volunteers have removed invasive weeds, planted tens of thousands of native host and nectar plants, and stabilized soils to rebuild resilient hillside ecosystems.
“There is a lot we don’t know about the butterfly, so we are trying to restore habitat, which means knowing where it was and what it needs to survive,” Sarabia explains.
Rebuilding the Butterfly’s Habitat
A Coalition Working Together
A broad coalition drives the recovery effort forward. The Conservancy works closely with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the United States Navy, America’s Teaching Zoo at Moorpark College, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Rancho Palos Verdes, and the Urban Wildlands Group to coordinate habitat restoration, captive breeding, research, and release.
At America’s Teaching Zoo at Moorpark College, Dr. Jana Johnson and her team lead the long-running captive breeding and research program that underpins the species’ survival.
“I’m full of gratitude for all the partners working to recover the endangered Palos Verdes Blue butterfly,” Johnson says.
“My team’s role is to maintain a refugium to prevent extinction, breed individuals in captivity to grow the population, conduct research to improve recovery efforts, and release them into the wild to strengthen existing populations and reestablish them in parts of their historic range.”
Breeding the Next Generation
Under Johnson’s leadership, the captive population has grown dramatically.
“We have managed to bring the captive stock from roughly 188 individuals when I joined the effort to over 7,000 this past season with a very dedicated team of students learning their craft as biologists,” she explains. “We have been able to produce enough individuals to release to the wild every year since 2008.”
The release process requires careful coordination. Biologists track genetic lines, raise butterflies from egg to caterpillar to chrysalis to adult, and select males and females for strategic release into restored habitat. Afterward, monitoring teams track survival, breeding success, and habitat use to refine their methods.
A Fragile Comeback
Sarabia emphasizes that many mysteries remain.
“They can stay dormant for many years. It tells us a lot about what’s going on in the wild, but it’s hard to understand why. There are a lot of unknowns with this butterfly.”
The Palos Verdes Blue butterfly’s comeback remains fragile. Habitat loss, invasive plants, and development once drove the species to the brink. Today, land managers, scientists, students, and volunteers are working to reverse that trajectory by restoring native landscapes and rebuilding ecological connections.
“It’s our job to create habitat and wildlife corridors,” Sarabia says.
He remains optimistic, explaining that restoration efforts aim to make the species resilient and self-sustaining — eventually allowing it to be removed from the endangered species list.
“We’re following the recovery plan and checking off the boxes,” he says. “It’s a long-term project, but the trajectory is positive.”
With coordinated science, sustained partnerships, and thousands of newly planted native plants taking root, conservationists are not just hoping for recovery — they are building it, one restored acre and one released butterfly at a time.
