Tomorrow morning, Supervisor Don Knabe will join community leaders for the release of endangered Palos Verdes blue butterflies into restored coastal sage scrub habitat at Deane Dana Friendship Community Regional Park and Nature Center (Friendship Park) in San Pedro.

The Palos Verdes blue butterfly is a small, colorful, thumbnail-sized butterfly that was federally listed as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1980. The release of endangered Palos Verdes blue butterflies at Deane Dana Friendship Park is one component of ongoing multiple partnership efforts to recover this endangered native species in southern California.

Recovery actions include the restoration of the butterfly’s habitat by the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy at Friendship Park, and captive-rearing at Defense Fuel Support Point San Pedro and The Urban Wildlands Group and America’s Teaching Zoo at Moorpark College.

Deane Dana Friendship Community Regional Park and Nature Center is located at 1805 W. 9th Street, San Pedro, CA 90732. The event begins at 8:30 a.m. and admission is free. In the event of rain, the butterflies will not be released but will be available on display inside the Nature Center.