Defense Fuel Supply Point (DFSP)

DFSP Tank View

The Defense Fuel Supply Point in San Pedro not only provides storage for military fuel reserves, it also is home to the endangered Palos Verdes blue butterfly (Glaucopsyche lygdamus palosverdesensis), the “rarest butterfly on earth”. First identified in the late 1970’s, the Palos Verdes blue butterfly is a special species found only on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

The DFSP mission is a restricted facility which receives stores and distributes diesel and jet fuels for military use in California, Arizona and Nevada. Coastal sage scrub is juxtaposed within pipelines and storage tanks, providing habitat for the Palos Verdes blue butterfly as well as the threatened California gnatcatcher (Polioptila californica), a small gray bird that is that is listed as threatened by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Long thought to be extinct, the Palos Verdes blue butterfly was rediscovered a the DFSP in 1994 by a team of researches led by Dr. Rudi Mattoni. This rediscovery spearheaded a multi-organizational effort to bring the Palos Verdes blue butterfly from the brink of extinction to full recovery.

In conjunction with other organizations, the Conservancy is installing and maintaining coastal sage scrub habitat on the slopes around the fuel tanks to benefit the blue butterfly. The Urban Wildlands Group, a nonprofit organization "dedicated to the conservation of species, habitats, and ecological processes in urban and urbanizing areas" (www.urbanwildlands.org), conducts the captive breeding program. This program is a collaboration with Moorpark College and is directed by Moorpark College professor Dr. Jana Johnson.

Since that time, the Defense Logistics Agency, which operates the facility, has funded habitat restoration and a breeding program for the blue butterfly. Honey, produced on the premises, is provided to the captive rearing program so the butterflies are able to feed on the same food source as its wild companions. Major Jason Pike, an entomologist for the DLA who has been monitoring the project, commented, "The military takes its responsibilities for endangered species on its properties very seriously, and DLA is pleased to provide support for the blue butterfly project."

Palos Verdes Blue Butterfly

The Land Conservancy raises plants at the on-site nursery for both the captive rearing program and for the wild Palos Verdes blue butterflies. The captive rearing program alone requires hundreds of deerweed and rattlepod. Under the direction of Dr. Jana Johnson, the number of butterflies in captivity has grown dramatically. While the butterflies only live about ten days as adults, they quickly mate and the females lay eggs on deerweed foliage, whether in captivity or the wild. The eggs hatch into larvae, which feed and grow on the plant. In the wild, the larvae crawl down into the debris on the ground where they form pupae, but for captive rearing they are collected and pupate in the lab.

The goal of all these efforts is to save this special species from extinction and restore it to health in its native habitat. All parties were excited in the release of captive Palos Verdes blue butterflies to the wild, both at DFSP and at the Linden H. Chandler Preserve. We hope the apparent success of this program means we're on the right path.

Directions

Because the Defense Fuel Supply Point is a functioning naval facility, public access is restricted. Please contact the Conservancy's office with questions concerning the PVPLC's restoration efforts at the base.

Links

• Defense Logistics Agency - The DLA is part of the Department of the Defense that operates the Defense Fuel Supply Point.
• SERG - Research group affiliated with San Diego State University, performs as the restoration ecologist at the DFSP, developing goals for the vegetation component of the project.
• Urban Wildlands Group - Non-profit organization who supervises the captive breeding program that ensures the survival of the Palos Verdes blue butterfly.
• US Fish & Wildlife Service - Regulatory branch of the Department of the Interior that works to conserve, protect, and enhance endangered species and their habitat.