On a wing and a prairie: Puget Sound butterfly avoids extinction with human help

On a wing and a prairie: Puget Sound butterfly avoids extinction with human help John Ryan June 04, 2025 / 9:31 pm

In a prairie full of wildflowers, Erica Henry got down on all fours, then ducked under a low mesh tent, one of 10 homemade enclosures dotting the open space of Scatter Creek Wildlife Area south of Olympia, Washington.

With a plastic bowl, she delicately scooped up a tiny jewel of an insect clinging to the tent: a Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly.

“It's got a black, fuzzy body,” Henry said. “They're surprisingly fuzzy.”

Each wing looks like a mini-masterpiece of stained-glass art, in orange, black, and white.

“This one is federally endangered. We are trying to recover its populations,” Henry said. “There are only a handful of sites where this butterfly still exists.”