[Pollinator] San Francisco Mulls Commercial Butterfly Release Ban

[Matthew Shepherd]

From: Bay Nature

http://baynature.org/articles/san-francisco-mulls-commercial-butterfly-relea
se-ban/

 

San Francisco Mulls Commercial Butterfly Release Ban

by Alessandra Bergamin <http://baynature.org/author/alessandra/>  on
December 11, 2013

 

San Francisco is the first U.S. city to consider banning the release of
commercially raised butterflies at ceremonies such as weddings, funerals,
and charity events.  But the idea, which made headlines around the country,
is still a long way from seeing a vote.

In a meeting last week, the city's Commission on the Environment
<http://www.sfenvironment.org/commission>  approved a resolution
<http://www.sfenvironment.org/sites/default/files/agenda/attach/resolution_b
anning_commercially_raised_butterflies_amended_102113.pdf>  directing the
Department of the Environment <http://www.sfenvironment.org/>  to research
the issue with scientists, state and federal agencies, and other
stakeholders, before pursuing legislative action.

"Can you imagine going to a ribbon cutting ceremony for a building opening
and everybody releases 40 squirrels?" said Liam O'Brien, a local
lepidopterist who has spearheaded the effort to legislate a ban. "We laugh
at the ridiculous notion of doing that; but for some reason we continue to
do just that with this group of creatures."

Amber Hasselbring, the executive director of the local nonprofit Nature in
the City <http://www.natureinthecity.org/> , spoke at the commission meeting
about the disruptive effects of the practice on the butterfly's life cycle.
Breeders gather the butterflies after they have emerged from their
chrysalises as adults, then chill them so they can be shipped in a sedentary
state. Captive-raised butterflies do not have the opportunity to breed
before they are packaged; and once they are released, their chances of
finding a mate, breeding, and laying eggs are scarce, Hasselbring said.

Monarch butterflies, one of the most commonly released species, have a
highly complex life cycle dictated by the seasonal calendar. Hasselbring
said that releasing them can "savagely skew" their life cycle, and added
that little research has been conducted into the impact of commercial
releases on already-stressed wild populations.

"You're just kind of throwing them out there in the big pool of things," she
said. "We know so little about the process that if we interfere it could not
only lead to harm, but also possibly skew data for people trying to study
them," such as those who conduct annual butterfly counts to assess the
health of local wild populations.

O'Brien, who regularly collects data on monarch butterflies at San
Francisco's overwintering sites, says he became motivated to pursue a ban
when the California Academy of Sciences <http://www.calacademy.org/>
released some 500 monarchs at a re-opening celebration in Golden Gate Park,
near one of O'Brien's study areas. "The Academy was a stone's throw away
from an overwintering group, so all my data had to be thrown out for the
year," he said. "It was a real watershed event for me."

Mia Monroe, a volunteer with the Xerces Society <http://www.xerces.org/>
who coordinates the society's annual Western Monarch Thanksgiving Count,
said volunteers recording data are unsure whether the monarchs being counted
are those that have migrated to overwinter or those released in a ceremony.
"It really messes up scientific accuracy," she said.

Dale McClung, a spokesperson for the Florida-based International Butterfly
Breeders Association <http://butterflybreeders.org/> , said he is doubtful
the IBBA can influence the proposed ban, as there are no butterfly farms
within San Francisco County. But, he said, he is disappointed that a
statistical anomaly for a handful of butterfly researchers could lead to
people who are not lepidopterists being denied close exposure to
butterflies. Butterfly breeders also contend that while monarch populations
in particular are declining, commercial butterfly releases are not the
culprit.

"Butterfly releases are adding breeding individuals to the wild population,"
McClung said. "So reintroduction is what we're really talking about."

Peter Brastow, the biodiversity coordinator with the city's Department of
the Environment, said that in the coming months the department will
communicate with various stakeholders to consider all arguments. But Brastow
added that there is a difference between releasing butterflies for
entertainment and reintroducing butterflies as part of a conservation plan.

"The fact is," he said, "that if it's not part of a scientifically based
conservation program, then by definition it's preventing the legitimate and
successful tracking of the health of butterfly populations."

Jose Muniz, a butterfly farmer at Magical Beginnings Butterfly Farms
<http://www.butterflyevents.com/>  in Los Gatos, said that concern over
farmed butterflies spreading disease is unfounded. Butterflies are generally
raised outdoors or in greenhouses where breeders remove any diseased scales
from eggs and feed caterpillars only insecticide free plants, he explained.

The United States Department of Agriculture
<http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome>  also regulates the butterfly
trade and has allowed nine species to be moved across state lines for
release, but with restrictions on particular states. For example, Western
monarchs cannot be released east of the Continental Divide.

While San Francisco continues to bear the stigma of being the site for the
first-ever-recorded butterfly extinction-the endemic Xerces blue was last
seen in 1941- it has a recent history of lepidoptery conservation. Several
projects, including the Green Hairstreak Corridor
<http://baynature.org/articles/a-helping-hand-for-the-hairstreak/> , Tigers
on Market Street
<http://baynature.org/articles/whats-a-tiger-swallowtail-doing-in-downtown-s
an-francisco/>  and the reintroduction of the Mission Blue butterfly
<http://www.parksconservancy.org/conservation/plants-animals/endangered-spec
ies/mission-blue-butterfly.html> , are success stories that attest to the
benefit of butterfly habitat restoration and species conservation.

Now that the Commission on the Environment has approved the resolution, the
department will further discuss the proposed ban with experts,
conservationists, and community stakeholders to begin drafting legislation
that will eventually be brought to the Board of Supervisors for
consideration.

"We think it's wonderful that people want to bring nature into their lives,"
Monroe said. "But this just isn't the way to do it anymore."

 

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