Development Leads To Disaster
Destroying A Home For A Home
Factories Open Doors to Non Natives
So you make ask, why is it so important that we save the Mission Blue butterfly? Well, there are many important aspects to this small, beautiful, blue butterfly. Everyday these butterflies play a huge role in the world around us. Although many believe these little insects are not worth saving compared to big huge mammals, this is not true. From environment to economic benefits butterflies cover it all. After reading the numerous values butterflies offer to the world, you will believe that this amazing and complex species is worth saving.
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You may wonder, how exactly the Mission Blue butterflies came to be so endangered? Unfortunately through the years these butterflies have experienced many threats to not only their population, but also their habitat.
Tourist Come To See The Very Thing They Are Destroying
Twin Peaks is part of the San Francisco National Parks and is a beautiful place to visit. When there is such a beautiful place to visit, it is hard not to attract many tourist. With the tourist comes a lot of trampling of land, hikers are trampling on them because they are such a small butterflies people often don’t see them. Stopping trampling from humans on the Mission Blue Butterfly is an easy solution that can be solved by closing off the areas in which the Mission Blue Butterfly is during the months of mating season which is between March and early July (The City of Portland, Oregon, 2016).
The beautiful view from San Bruno Mountain showing the huge amounts of housing present (photo by Johan, 2012)
Many factories and commercial buildings are present in Brisbane, CA, located on the San Bruno Mountain, like this commercial building for YouTube (image from Coolcaesar, 2017)
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Rock quarrying on the San Bruno Mountain destroying the Mission Blue butterflies habitat (image from Coetzee, 2013)
The Mission Blue Butterfly also known as Icaricia icarioides missionensis is a local native to the San Francisco Bay Area (The Xerces Society). Out of 54 species that used to live in San Francisco, the Mission Blue Butterfly is now only one of the 34 species that still exist in San Francisco (Carolyn, 2010). The Mission Blue Butterfly has many ecological values. Bringing attention to many artists for its beauty and vibrant light blue color, becoming a symbol for the locals. Many may think, what purpose can a small Mission Blue butterfly have if it only has a lifespan of two weeks? (Golden Gate National National Parks Conservancy, 2016). The Mission blue butterfly actually provides a lot more to its environmental surroundings then one may think.
Development has had a huge impact on the Mission Blue butterflies. At the San Bruno Mountain there are many parts of the area that are being ruined for housing and recreation places (Black & Vaughan, 2005). The development that is taking place on the land where the Mission Blue butterfly, especially in the Twin Peaks area as well as the San Bruno Mountain, is residential development.
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This benefit for the wealthy few is depriving both humans and nature the beauty of the Mission Blue Butterfly. In places such as the San Bruno Mountain, a majority of that land has been developed already and there continues to be is a constant pressure for more (The Xerces Society). Along with development, the increase of recreation occurs so the growing residential population can be accommodated (The Xerces Society).
In the town of Brisbane, which is on the lower slope of San Bruno Mountain, there is a population of about 4,693 people, this is a lot for a small town, especially a town that is sitting in the habitat of an endangered species (Black & Vaughan, 2005). Not only is their a lot of housing on the San Bruno Mountain there is now proposed housing for the Northeast ridge of the mountain as well as the reservoir hill in Daly City (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1984). The San Bruno Mountain is only one of the few remaining nesting sites of the Mission Blue Butterfly. The Mission Blue Butterfly is a crucial insect and the population size may start to drop down again erasing many years of progress if further development is not stopped.
Along with tourist, people need a way of traveling to places like Twin Peaks, so there are many roads that are now being built. “These are opening new pathways for the establishment of exotic plants” (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1984). These roads also lead to antenna farms. These “farms” are land with transmission towers for Bay Area radios and T.V stations. The construction and maintenance of these “farms” has taken more land away from the butterflies as well as provide more space for non natives to grow (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1984).
Another attraction to tourist is rock and sand quarrying. They make the ideal hunting grounds for rock collectors who want fossils or pockets of crystals. It also attracts big companies because rock quarrying can be sold as decorative stone, which are used in homes or building, others are used for decorative sidewalks, garden pathways, stone walls and landscaping (Wagner). These rock and sand quarrying often destroy the habitat of the butterflies by bulldozing and destroying land to get the rock and sand. This also attracts more people, which leave trash, as well as crush the butterflies.
