In a misty coastal meadow on Wednesday morning, Oregon Zoo butterfly specialists and their conservation partners said goodbye to hundreds of the Oregon Zoo's tiniest residents.
They were releasing Oregon silverspots at select sites in the coastal mountain range in an effort to save this beautiful Northwest species.
Once common in coastal grasslands from Northern California up into British Columbia, the Oregon silverspot has been listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act since 1980. Today, just four isolated populations remain.
"Three of the last four silverspot populations would most likely be extinct if it weren't for this recovery program," said Travis Koons, who oversees the Oregon Zoo's silverspot conservation efforts in partnership with the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo.
Each summer, a small number of female silverspots are collected by field biologists and brought to the zoo to lay eggs. The eggs hatch into tiny caterpillars, which are kept safe during their winter dormancy. In the spring, they wake up to a leafy meal and grow quickly.
When the time is right, the zoo and its conservation partners transport the silverspots — either as caterpillars or pupae — to field sites in order to bolster the three remaining Oregon populations.
