Upcoming campus construction plans near Strawberry Creek could tear through the habitat of a native butterfly species.<\/p>\n
Beginning in mid-2026, UC Berkeley Capital Strategies plans to add energy infrastructure next to the creek. The construction is currently projected to dig up a segment of California pipevine plants in the process \u2014 crucial habitat for the pipevine swallowtail butterfly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe California pipevine swallowtail is an endemic butterfly that’s only native to Northern California. All of these butterflies that we see on campus are actually born and \u2026 the caterpillars are all feeding on this one site,\u201d said campus alumna Rosetta Wang.<\/p>\n
Wang is the founder of the Wild Harvest and Restoration Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to restoring California\u2019s native ecosystems.<\/p>\n
According to Wang, the plot of pipevine plants on campus currently acts as a nursery for the butterflies to lay their eggs and for caterpillars to grow.<\/p>\n
The pipevine is also the butterfly\u2019s only source of food.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe plants and butterflies are engaged in antagonistic coevolution, such that the removal of the plant can have detrimental effects on butterfly populations,\u201d said Tulane University assistant professor Dr. Samridhi Chaturvedi, in an email.<\/p>\n
Wang pointed out that the pipevine plant\u2019s current place by Strawberry Creek is the only site on campus where she has seen them grow.<\/p>\n
Moreover, Wang emphasized that there are not many other areas on campus in which the pipevine plants could be relocated and still thrive.<\/p>\n
According to Chaturvedi, if the plant were to be demolished as a part of construction, it would take time for it to grow back and support the local butterfly population.<\/p>\n
Chaturvedi added that the removal of the pipevine plants would bring broader ecological harm to more than just the butterflies that depend on the plant, particularly local insects.<\/p>\n
The planned construction on campus is a part of an initiative to make utilities more energy efficient. The new infrastructure will incorporate all-electric heating and cooling systems.<\/p>\n
Campus is currently in the final stages of designing the plan, including figuring out \u201cthe most viable and least disruptive routes\u201d for the new utility lines. According to campus spokesperson Kyle Gibson, campus looks to share the finalized plan in April.<\/p>\n
\u201cUC Berkeley is deeply committed to the stewardship of Strawberry Creek and its surrounding biodiversity,\u201d Gibson said in an email. \u201cCapital Strategies works closely with environmental planners to mitigate the impact of essential infrastructure work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gibson added that campus is happy to review Wang\u2019s concerns further.<\/p>\n
Wang hopes campus will change the current construction plan in order to avoid this critical habitat.<\/p>\n
She hopes to raise more awareness about the California pipevine plant and butterfly, in order to ensure that people can recognize the species and avoid demolishing their populations.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we identify how much joy this species is bringing us on campus, we\u2019ll find it sad to see it eradicated,\u201d Wang said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Upcoming campus construction plans near Strawberry Creek could tear through the habitat of a native butterfly species. Beginning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":216411,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[99334,7905,143,145,144,99332,99335,99333,76369,99331],"class_list":["post-216410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-dr-samridhi-chaturvedi","tag-kyle-gibson","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-rosetta-wang","tag-strawberry-creek","tag-tulane-university","tag-uc-berkeley-capital-strategies","tag-wildlife-harvest-and-restoration-fund"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216410"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216410\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}