Helliwell burning benefits butterflies?
By The Taylor’s Checkerspot Butterfly Recovery Project Team
It’s good to pause occasionally when pulling weeds. Stretch those tired muscles before they cramp up. Enjoy the sunshine. Find some endangered caterpillars.
That’s what happened in mid-March when Kihan Yoon-Henderson took a break while removing English holly and thistles from Helliwell Provincial Park’s coastal bluff habitat. She found more than 60 Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly larvae. It’s the second consecutive year that the TCB Recovery Project Team can confirm that the endangered Taylor’s checkerspots successfully overwintered in the park. The caterpillars were the offspring of butterfly larvae raised at the Greater Vancouver Zoo by Wildlife Preservation Canada staff and released in Helliwell in previous years. “This is great news and an encouraging sign that Taylor’s checkerspot butterflies are re-establishing a population in the park”, said Chris Junck, TCB Recovery Project Team Public Outreach Coordinator.
The invasive plant removal work by Kihan and Hornby Island volunteers follows native plant seeding of sites where piles of tree material were burned during an ongoing multi-year forest fire fuel reduction project. Restoring burn sites and Garry oak habitat on the bluff is intended to benefit butterflies and other pollinators. Hopefully, current butterfly counts will verify that the habitat restoration work is paying off.
Trampling is a key threat to Taylor’s checkerspot survival. Helliwell Provincial Park visitors can help reduce this risk. Follow Park rules: leave bikes in the parking lot, stay on marked trails and keep dogs leashed.
The project team would like to thank the Cowichan Tribes, Halalt, Homalco, K’ómoks, Lake Cowichan, Lyackson, Penelakut, Qualicum, Snaw’Naw’As, Stz’uminus, Tla’amin, We Wai Kai, and We Wai Kum First Nations for allowing us to restore ecosystems in their traditional territories. Several local volunteers from Conservancy Hornby Island, the Hornby Island Natural History Centre, the Hornby Island Provincial Parks Committee, and others also contributed to the success of this project.
The recovery project has benefited from funding and in-kind contributions from the BC Parks Licence Plate Program, the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation, the Environment Canada Habitat Stewardship Fund, and the B.C. Ministry of Environment and Parks (Ecosystems Branch), Canada Pollinator Partnership and others.
The Taylor’s Checkerspot Butterfly Recovery Project Team includes biological consultants and representatives from the B.C. Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship, B.C. Ministry of Environment and Parks, BC Parks, Denman Conservancy Association, Garry Oak Ecosystems Recovery Team, Greater Vancouver Zoo, Mosaic Forest Management, Wildlife Preservation Canada, and others.
Learn more about the Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly:
https: //goert.ca/activities/taylors-checkerspot/
and
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/environment/plants-animals-ecosystems/species-ecosystems-at-risk/implementation/conservation-projects-partnerships/taylors-checkerspot
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Photos and captions
Native plant seeds are scattered on sites where piles of tree material were burned during the forest fire fuel reduction project. Photo by Kihan Yoon-Henderson.
Thistles, English holly and other invasive plants were removed to help restore the habitat. Photos by Kihan Yoon-Henderson.
More than 60 Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly larvae were counted in Helliwell Provincial Park this spring. It’s a sign that the endangered butterflies successfully overwintered and are re-establishing a population in the park. Photo by Kihan Yoon-Henderson.
Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly counts in Helliwell are continuing in June. Photo by Jennifer Heron.Background Information
Checkerspot Butterfly (Euphydryas editha taylori)
- Also known as Edith’s checkerspot.
- Historical range was Hornby Island, southeastern Vancouver Island, Puget Trough and to the Willamette Valley in Oregon. In B.C., they were once abundant at 10 sites in the Greater Victoria Area, one site each near Mill Bay and Comox, and sites on Hornby Island (including Helliwell Provincial Park).
- They were thought to have been extirpated (became locally extinct) from Canada by 2000 when no Taylor’s checkerspots could be found in their last known sites on Hornby Island despite intensive searches. However, new populations were discovered on Denman Island in 2005 and near Campbell River in 2018.
- It is federally listed as Endangered (COSEWIC, SARA Schedule 1), and is on the BC Red list of at-risk species.
- Taylor’s checkerspot butterflies need open sunny meadows where they can find suitable host plants (food for larvae and nectar producing flowers for adults), such as native woolly sunflower, common camas, small-flowered blue-eyed Mary, wild strawberry, sea blush, and yarrow, as well as non-native species such as ribwort plantain and common plantain.
- Habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation are major factors in the species’ decline. For example, the meadows along the coastal bluffs in Helliwell Provincial Park became less suitable for butterflies due to invasions of non-native plants and encroaching forests.
- Habitat enhancement work (weeding, selective limbing +/or removal of conifers, re-planting and seeding with native species) has been ongoing in Helliwell Provincial Park for several years.
The Taylor’s Checkerspot Butterfly Recovery Project
The Taylor’s Checkerspot Butterfly Recovery Project is led by Jennifer Heron of the B.C. Ministry of Water, Land, and Resource Stewardship and is guided by the Garry Oak Ecosystems Recovery Team’s Invertebrates at Risk Recovery Implementation Group. It is a collaborative effort to restore Taylor’s checkerspot populations in British Columbia through habitat enhancement, captive butterfly rearing and release, monitoring, public outreach, and other activities.
Team Members
Jennifer Heron (Chair), B.C. Ministry of Water, Land, and Resource Stewardship, Vancouver, B.C.
Erika Bland and Andrew Fyson, Denman Island Conservancy Association, Denman Island, B.C.
Deborah Bishop, Denman Island, B.C.
Menita Prasad, Greater Vancouver Zoo, Aldergrove, B.C.
Eric Gross, Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Delta, B.C.
Crispin Guppy, Entomologist, Vanderhoof, B.C.
David Vey and Rachel Shanner, Mosaic Forest Management, Nanaimo, B.C.
Chris Junck, Garry Oak Ecosystems Recovery Team and B.C. Conservation Foundation, Victoria, B.C.
Suzie Lavallee, University of British Columbia Faculty of Forestry, Vancouver, B.C.
Patrick Lilley, Private Consultant, North Vancouver, B.C.
Iain Reid, BC Parks, Black Creek, B.C.
Kristen Miskelly, Satinflower Nurseries, Victoria, B.C.
Derek Moore, Area Supervisor Von Donop Area, BC Parks, Black Creek, B.C.
Nick Page, Raincoast Applied Ecology, Vancouver, B.C.
Hazel Wheeler, Andrea Gielens and Jay Athwal, Wildlife Preservation Canada, Guelph, ON.
Bonnie Zand, Independent Consultant, Fanny Bay, B.C.
Supporters
B.C. Conservation Foundation
B.C. Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy
B.C. Ministry of Water, Land, and Resource Stewardship
BC Parks
BC Parks License Plate Fund
Conservancy Hornby Island
Denman Conservancy Association
Environment Canada Habitat Stewardship Fund
Garry Oak Ecosystems Recovery Team
Greater Vancouver Zoo
Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation
Hornby Island Community School
Hornby Island Co-op
Hornby Island Natural History Centre
Hornby Island Provincial Parks Committee
Mosaic Forest Management
Sea Breeze Lodge
University of British Columbia
Wildlife Preservation Canada
For more information about the Taylor’s Checkerspot Butterfly Recovery Project, visit: www.goert.ca/activities/taylors-checkerspot/
Or contact:
Project Lead/GOERT Invertebrates at Risk RIG Chair
Jennifer Heron
Provincial Invertebrate Conservation Specialist
B.C. Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship
Office: 778-572-2273
Jennifer.Heron@gov.bc.ca
Public Outreach Coordinator
Taylor’s Checkerspot Butterfly Recovery Project Team
Chris Junck
chrisnjunck@gmail.com
* More photos available by request
BC Parks
Iain Reid
Conservation Specialist
BC Parks
Office: 250-218-6824
Iain.Reid@gov.bc.ca
