Located in the middle of San Francisco is a 70 acre open space known as Twin Peaks. Roughly half of this area is designated as a natural area overseen by the San Francisco Parks and Recreation Department (SFPRD). In the last two decades this area has seen a decline in the numbers of Mission Blue Butterflies at an alarming rate. During the last ten years this region has also seen a decline of the silver lupine, which is the main larval host plant for the butterfly. Although numbers have been quickly dwindling both the SFPRD and the Fish and Wildlife Service have concocted a species rescue operation to bring back the past population of the Mission Blue Butterfly to Twin Peaks.
Two decades ago San Francisco tour groups would marvel at the number of the Mission Blue Butterflies occupying the open space. Unfortunately due to changing weather conditions and a shrinking natural habitat the butterflies population has been decreasing. The coastal scrub and grassland habitat centered on the Golden Gate Bridge and reaching to San Bruno Mountain in San Mateo, Twin Peaks in San Francisco and Fort Baker in Marin County are the only 3 areas where the Mission Blue Butterfly can be found in the world.
Government and local officials have decided to catch fertile female butterflies and release them in Twin Peaks hoping that the silver lupine population is numerous enough to entice the butterflies to stay in the local area. While San Francisco tourists and Twin Peaks residents have been accustomed to never seeing a Mission Blue Butterfly in the open space, after this spring there are hopes that the population recuperation efforts will have returned one of San Francisco's rare species to its home.
