The Green Hairstreak Project
Upcoming Volunteer Opportunities:
GREEN HAIRSTREAK WORKDAY Meet at 14th and Pacheco on the 3rd Saturday of every month from 10 am - 1 pm Bringing your own tools & gloves is welcomed! Email steward@natureinthecity.org if you have questions. |
*NOTE* *This month of January in 2012* we're actually working **this Saturday the 28th** At GRANDVIEW PARK from 1 pm - 3pm Email steward@natureinthecity.org if you have questions. |
Check out our previous workdays below, and watch this clip about the Green Hairstreak Corridor, as featured on Channel 7 News! Also read Molly Samuel's blog posting about the spring corridor trek and this SF Examiner article on GG Gunther - San Francisco's youngest site steward!
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“As early as 1956, Green Hairstreaks were reported disappearing from the San Francisco area. Today, virtually all populations on the Bay’s islands, hills, and shorelines have been eliminated as the natural habitat has given way to development.”
Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Butterflies; 1981
Discovered by modern science in the late 1800’s from “the hills of San Francisco” the Green Hairstreak (Callophrys dumetorum) is a small, nickel-sized butterfly isolated in three remaining remnant habitats within the city: Hawk Hill and Rocky Outcrop overlooking the Sunset District and the coastal bluffs of the Presidio.
The Green Hairstreak is a member of the Lycaenidae Family, or “gossamer-winged” butterflies, and historically flew throughout the peninsula before human development.
The primary goal of the Hairstreak Project is to connect two disjunctive butterfly populations in the Sunset District with street level plantings of host and nectar sources. If the two populations can interbreed, their genetic viability and diversity will be more secure.
Further goals include:
- Reverse inbreeding of isolated populations, a known cause of local extinction.- Rally support from the surrounding neighborhood and connect the community to the habitat of this unique and beautiful species.
- Restore fragments of native dune habitat, the natural home of the butterfly.
The Corridor Map
- Hawk Hill, Golden Gate Heights, Rocky Outcrop & Grandview Parks
- Other public lands besides RPD, e.g., the DPW triangle shown below at 14th & Pacheco
- Residential resources, i.e., front and back yards
- Moraga Steps and other stairways and throughways
- Hoover Middle School
More than just a butterfly corridor...
From Josiah Clark:
"The neighborhoods in the Green Hairstreak Corridor are special not just for the rare butterfly, but also for retaining the uniquely adapted song of the Nutall's White-crowned Sparrow. The song dialects of this resident songbird are so specialized that songs vary noticeably from one park to another. Once a common breeder in landscaped neighborhoods throughout much of San Francisco, its special song is now rarely heard in the city's neighborhoods. The non-migratory/nutallii/subspecies of White-crowned Sparrow, which occurs only near the coast, is increasingly restricted to parkland areas with restored coastal scrub. Plantings and stewardship for Nature in the City's Green Hairstreak Project are helping to create habitat for this tough, long-standing native resident of coastal scrub throughout the Green Hairstreak Corridor.
Note:
During fall and winter large groups of White-crowned Sparrows are a common sight, foraging in open areas wherever sufficient cover is present. Most of these birds are of the subspecies pugetensis and migrate north each spring to breed in the northwest. Only a fraction of the White-crowned Sparrows observed during winter remain are of the rarer /nutallii /subspecies, which remain along the coast to breed."
White-Crowned Sparrow
Habitat
in Golden Gate Park
Nature in the City is partnering with Josiah Clark and gardeners at Golden Gate Park to increase habitat for the Nuttall's White-Crowned Sparrow and other songbirds. Watch this short video on installing bird boxes for swallows and blue birds at the Bison Paddock too!
 Help Us Grow White-Crowned Sparrow Habitat at the Golden Gate Park Bison Paddock!3rd Saturdays 9 am - noon Bison Paddock Early-bird bird walk with naturalist Josiah Clark leaves the paddock at 8 am! Download this flyer for more information! |
Partners
California Native Plant Society
HANC Native Plant Nursery - Sustainably growing affordable and uniquely San Franciscan local native plants.
Kids in Parks - Teaching kids about the Green Hairstreak butterfly, habitat stewardship, and growing native plants right at the base of one of its last San Francisco breeding grounds, Hawk Hill.
Liam O'Brien - Local lepidopterist & Green Hairstreak Corridor founder
Recreation and Parks Natural Areas Program
16th Avenue Tiled Steps Project
Nature in the City would love to help you to turn your yard into a vibrant habitat for wildlife in the city.
ALSO, Nature in the City is partnering with the SF Parks Trust and the DPW to transform unused areas of land throughout the city into beautiful habitat for wildlife, such as the Green Hairstreak corridor. We can help you to learn about the plants, gather volunteers, design plantings, and to apply for permission to steward the site.
If you would like to become a habitat steward in your yard or neighborhood, please email melanie@natureinthecity.org.
Backyard Native Plant Nursery Network
The Green Hairstreak's Backyard Native Nursery (BYNN) serves as a network of stewards and volunteers who are cultivating native plants in their own homes to provide plants and seeds for the Green Hairstreak corridor project. BYNN is a part of Nature in the City's goal to establish a collective of nursery keepers and seed collectors who will aid in the cataloguing of local plant varieties and help establish a self sustaining native seed bank and extensive nursery network. The BYNN plants will be distributed this fall during the rainy season so they can take hold in their native soils and begin to thrive. Collected seeds are now available for a $2 donation per pack of 25+ seeds for anyone who has an interest in collaborating to aid these beautiful threatened butterflies, or simply want to enrich their backyards with some native plant life.
For more information on how to participate, please contact Nature in the City at e-mail Deidre Martin at deidre@natureinthecity.org.
Project History
Workparties
June 27th, 2009
10 am - 12 pm
Many thanks to everyone who is helping to transform 14th Avenue and Pacheco Street into a mini natural area for the Green hairstreak butterfly!
Water, snacks and compost bags will be available. Please bring your own tools if you have them and dress appropriately for getting in the dirt!
For more info contact Alane
15th and Noriega
On Friday, March 13th the Green Hairstreak project put some plants in the ground at the third piece of D.P.W. land along the Hairstreak Corridor. The location of this workparty was 15th and Noriega and the site steward, Mike Belcher, raised lots of plants on his back deck.
The Aerial Staircase
On Sunday, February 8, Liam O'Brien led the third planting workparty for the Green Hairstreak Corridor Project - this time at the Aerial Staircase.
All of the plants that we have been growing here at Nature in the City are now in the ground - including Coastal Buckwheat, Seaside Daisy and other native dune species. We would like to thank everyone who participated, especially Barbara Kobayashi and Alane Bowling for their leadership and volunteer recruitment efforts, Matt Zlatunich for growing dozens of native plants in his beautiful Richmond backyard, and the San Francisco Parks Trust.
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14th Avenue and Pacheco
November 23 marked the first workparty on the Green Hairsterak Corridor, at a small site on 14th and Pacheco. This was followed up with another day of planting on December 6. So far, almost 100 plants have gone in the ground!
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Updates
Liam O'Brien Reports a Busy Week for the Hairstreak Project:
Wednesday, Nov 5
Met with Mike Belcher in the Sunset to discuss him becoming the site steward for the 15th/Noriega lot (pictured) along the corridor. He meets later with Julia Brashares of SF Parks Trust to begin the paperwork...
Thursday, Nov 6
Went to the Califronia Native Plant society's Plant Sale. Spent $214 on plants to distribute among the site stewards (Funny moment: Lady in line at the sale: "You aren't going to use all that yarrow are you?" Me:"Lady, I have alot of butterflies to feed.")
Sunday, Nov 9
Met with Alice Xavier at the Moraga staircase (pictured). Being situated below Grandview Terrace, I thought this was a perfect garden to incorporate into the project. "Yes," she said, "I have seen the green butterfy here before." Excellent! They have a few buckwheat plants already there, but Alice will work with Mike Belcher to incorporate more. She also gave me good advice on fundraising for the project.
Growing for the Hairstreak
Now that the walks are over, the steering committee is focused on nurturing Hairstreak host plant seedlings, to prepare them for fall planting for the corridor. You can see Liam and Matt below taking care of the little plants.
Oases for the Green Hairstreak Corridor
"On September 3rd, members of the Hairstreak Committee met to hear Julia Brashares (San Francisco Parks Trust) take neighbors through the permit process for acquiring pieces of DPW lots along the corridor.
Corridor neighbors Alane Bowling, Barbara Kobayashi and Mike Belcher filled out the permit and agreed to manage various corner pieces along the corridor. The inital planting season will commence after the first rains of autumn (October/November). This involves prepping these "mini parks", starting with 14th and Pacheco, and planting Coastal Buckwheat & other nectar sources.
When the females start flying in spring, these oases will become incredibly important for their survival when they disperse from the metapopulations (Rocky Outcrop & Hawk Hill). Everyone should be proud of what we accomplished this season. I look forward to working with Parks Trust to get this going. Thank you Julia and thank you Laura for hosting!" -- Liam O'Brien
