From Defense to Conservation

Navy Partners with Land Conservancy to Release Palos Verdes Butterfly at Old Defense Fuel Depot

Coinciding with Fleet Week, the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy released the Palos Verdes blue butterfly at the Defense Fuel Support Point at 3171 N. Gaffey St. to celebrate the U.S. Navy’s “Commitment to Conservation” last week, May 23.

In attendance were U.S. Navy – Rear Admiral Brad Rosen, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service – Eric Porter, Moorpark College Teaching Zoo – Dr. Jana Johnson at the Defense Fuel Support Point in San Pedro.

Last year, Random Lengths News reported that the Navy was in negotiations to lease the Defense Fuel Support Points in San Pedro and Terminal Island in Long Beach. At the time, negotiations for the San Pedro terminal were described as being in the very early stages, while negotiations for the Long Beach terminal were described as going at a faster pace. When called about the proposed leases after Memorial Day, the Public Affairs office of the Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach said negotiations are still ongoing, and that they have been taking longer than expected. The Navy isn’t authorized to say who will potentially lease the property, or how they will use it.

The Navy had used the fuel depot in World War II, and it was no longer in active use by 1980. By 2014, all fuel tanks were in non-active, temporary closure status, according to the Navy’s website. By 2017,  all tanks had been permanently closed, cleaned out and filled in. 

When the petroleum industry remediate closed fuel depot sites, tanks no longer in use are removed. The Navy, however, left the tanks underground and filled them with cement. The executive director of the Coalition for a Safer Environment, Jesse Marquez, pointed out that a great deal of water is needed to make cement and that if any toxic material is still inside the tanks, it won’t remain trapped in the cement forever. 

Marquez noted that the Navy probably wanted to entomb leftover chemicals in the cement. But, he said, it will go into the ground, eventually permeating it and potentially entering the water supply, because the metal tanks will rust and deteriorate as well. 

The Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach claimed that rust was not an issue for the tanks because they are stainless steel and that cost-effectiveness was the reason cement was used to seal the toxic material rather than removing it. 

The Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach admitted that some toxic residue from some of the petroleum products had leaked out of some of the tanks, but that those were being remediated by the Defense Logistics Agency.

Conservation

In 1994, 20 years before all the tanks had become inactive at the San Pedro DFSP, Dr. Rudi Mattoni and colleagues discovered a population of the federally endangered Palos Verdes blue butterfly, or glaucopsyche lygdamus palosverdesensis, persisting in there. The species was presumed extinct for a decade before the discovery. 

Subsequently, the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy entered into a contract with the U.S. Navy in 1999 to restore the habitat at the San Pedro Defense Fuel Support Point.

The U.S. Navy, U.S. Defense Logistics Agency, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, California Department of Fish & Wildlife, the Urban Wildlands Group and the Teaching Zoo at Moorpark College work as partners on the recovery of the PV blue butterfly. 

Dr. Jana Johnson at Moorpark College runs the captive rearing program. The habitat at DFSP has been substantially improved with large areas of ice plant removed and replaced by host plants local to the area. The location is also home to the conservancy’s native plant nursery.

Monitoring of this Endangered Species

From February through June, surveyors take part in the monitoring season. Biologists with permits from U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, specifically to survey the Palos Verdes blue butterfly, travel along predetermined transects in known occupied areas and count male and female butterflies as well as the environmental conditions of the day.

The flight season is still underway. As such, the data hasn’t been compiled in total yet. However, preliminary results are very good, showing there is an increase in the number and locations of wild PV blue butterflies.  

The conservancy is optimistic that the wild population is making a comeback due to increased availability of restored habitat — and their required host plants. This is a result of the Land Conservancy’s accelerated restoration work bolstered by the abundant rainfall over the past two years.

This success story underscores the importance of conservation initiatives and collaborative efforts in protecting endangered wildlife. The released PV blue butterflies, now inhabiting carefully restored natural habitats, are a testament to the positive impact of sustained conservation practices.