Above: Hornby Island Community School students, their teacher Miranda Guzzo, parents, Natural History Centre stewards, and BC Parks staff worked quickly to plant areas where brush piles were burned last winter. Photo: Bill Hamilton

The Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly is listed as endangered in Canada, and considered a keystone species. An environmental indicator for the health of the entire ecosystem, this special butterfly was once widespread in the San Juan Islands, southern Vancouver Island and the surrounding islands of British Columbia. It was believed to have disappeared from Canada until 2005, when 15 checkerspots were observed on Denman Island in B.C.’s Gulf Islands. Since then, WPC has been working to support the checkerspot by building the wild population in B.C. through conservation breeding and helping partner efforts, like the Taylor’s Checkerspot Butterfly Recovery Project, that restore and maintain habitat for the species.⁠

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.

The group had dirty hands and big smiles after planting nearly 600 native plant seedling plugs. Photo: Bill Hamilton

Hornby Island Community School students from Miranda Guzzo’s classes made a significant contribution to the habitat restoration project in Helliwell Provincial Park, off the coast of B.C. this fall. On October 22, they planted yarrow, woolly sunflower, California brome, Junegrass and blue wildrye in bare patches of soil in the park after piles of dead branches and other forest fire fuels were burned last winter. The native plants were grown for the restoration project by Hornby Island Natural History Centre stewards.

Neil Wilson, one of the stewards, said, “Thanks everyone for your work in setting up and pulling off our eighth successful Hornby Island Community School, Natural History Centre, BC Parks, and Taylor’s Checkerspot Butterfly Recovery Project collaboration.  We managed to plant 592 native plant plugs for the Taylor’s checkerspots!”

“Wow – what an awesome effort,” said Hornby Island Community School Principal Lisa Malones.

The long-term project is enhancing Helliwell’s Garry oak and coastal bluff meadow habitat and reducing forest fire fuels. More dead branches and selective trees will be removed and burned this winter, followed by native plant seeding and planting.

The project aims to improve habitat for endangered Taylor’s checkerspot butterflies and other at-risk species. The Taylor’s Checkerspot Butterfly Recovery Project Team is cautiously optimistic that the work is paying off. Taylor’s checkerspots that were raised at the Greater Vancouver Zoo by Wildlife Preservation Canada staff and released in Helliwell last year reproduced. Their larvae overwintered and emerged in the spring. This is an encouraging sign that the butterflies may re-establish a population in the park.

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 Climate Change Strategy (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:

Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly recovery

Garry Oak Ecosystems  Recovery Team

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/environment/plants-animals-ecosystems/species-ecosystems-at-risk/implementation/conservation-projects-partnerships/taylors-checkerspot

BC Parks conservation specialist Stephanie Govier provided information about the coastal bluff restoration work and planting instructions. Photo: Bill Hamilton

Background Information

Taylor’s 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 woolly sunflower, common camas, small-flowered blue-eyed Mary, wild strawberry, sea blush, and yarrow.
  • 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 and Ross Vennesland, Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Delta, B.C.
Crispin Guppy, Entomologist, Whitehorse, Y.T.
Molly Hudson and David Vey, 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.
Erica McClaren and Stephanie Govier, 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, B.C. Conservation Foundation, 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
chris_junck@hotmail.com
* More photos available by request

BC Parks

Stephanie Govier
Conservation Specialist
BC Parks
Office:778-974-2781
Stephanie.Govier@gov.bc.ca

We need your help

Donate to save endangered species