DLA Public Affairs

Blue butterfly exhibit highlights conservation cooperation

By Thomas Peske
 

Defense Logistics Agency and Defense Energy Support Center are currently participating in the White House Conference on Cooperative Conservation in St. Louis, Mo., with an exhibit on the conservation of the Palos Verdes blue butterfly.

The Aug. 29-31 conference is designed to provide a forum for a diverse group of leaders to exchange information. Convened by the White House Council on Environmental Quality, a key benefit of the conference has been the opportunity for attendees to learn innovative and effective approaches to promoting cooperative conservation from their peers.

This is a good conference for us because it help shows we are not alone in the conservation efforts and approaches we use, said Jan Reitman, DLA director of environment, safety and occupational health. Other communities are using the process and resources to accomplish their conservation efforts. We are coming away with a lot of lessons learned.

Reitman said another benefit of the conference is the visibility the project is receiving from colleagues and leadership about the work to save the blue butterfly.

Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Installations and Environment Philip W. Grone said the Palos Verdes blue butterfly project was setting the standard for cooperative work between the government and civilian organizations. He said, Your project is on the cutting edge of how partnerships should be.

The project to save the Palos Verdes blue butterfly has enlisted the support of DLA; the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy; Urban Wildlands Group; University of California at Riverside and Los Angeles; San Diego State University's Soil Ecology Restoration Group; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; and Naval Engineering Facilities Command, Southwest.

The Palos Verdes blue butterfly, federally listed as endangered in 1980, was last observed in the city of Rancho Palos Verdes in the early 1980s and presumed by many experts to be extinct. In March 1994, the butterfly was rediscovered at Defense Fuel Support Point San Pedro. By 1997, the butterfly population had increased to about 500 as a result of conservation measures.

The three-day White House Conference on Cooperative Conservation is launching a new conservation dialogue and philosophy for the 21st century that builds upon the legacy of a much similar convocation of leaders by President Theodore Roosevelt at the start of the last century. President Bush signed Executive Order 13352 on Aug. 26, 2004, which directs the Departments of the Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Defense and Environmental Protection Agency to implement laws relating to the environment and natural resources in a manner that promotes cooperative conservation, with an emphasis on local inclusion.