Center for Biological Diversity

For Immediate Release, June 5, 2018

Contact:  Noah Greenwald, (503) 484-7495, ngreenwald@biologicaldiversity.org
Roger Peet, (503) 753-7027, toosphexy@gmail.com

Endangered Species Mural Celebration June 29 in Cottage Grove

Taylor’s Checkerspot Butterfly Featured in National Project

PORTLAND, Ore.— The Center for Biological Diversity will host an event Saturday to celebrate the 15th installment in the Center's national Endangered Species Mural Project.

The 40-foot-long, 20-foot-tall mural features a Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly, an endangered Willamette Valley prairie species. The national project highlights imperiled species that are of special significance to their region.

“The diversity of wildlife around us helps define our communities,” said local artist Roger Peet, who spearheads the Endangered Species Mural Project and designed and painted this mural. “By painting larger-than-life endangered species in cities and towns across the country, I hope to raise awareness of the connection between conservation and community strength.”

“The Endangered Species Mural Project brings together art, science and conservation to foster connections between human communities and imperiled wildlife,” said Noah Greenwald, endangered species program director at the Center. “We hope this mural inspires all those who encounter it to want to learn more about saving local endangered species.”    

Roger will be in Cottage Grove painting the mural all week and available for interviews. 

What: Endangered Species Mural Project public celebration with refreshments

Who: Artist Roger Peet and the Center’s Endangered Species Program Director Noah Greenwald

When: Friday, June 29, at 6 p.m.

Where: 106 S 10th St., Cottage Grove, OR (the Bohemia Building, corner of Washington and 10th)

Cost: Free

Species Background
Taylor's checkerspot butterfly (Euphydryas editha taylori) is a medium-size, colorfully checkered butterfly with a wingspan of about 2 inches. It formerly occurred throughout the extensive grasslands, prairies and oak woodlands of Vancouver Island, the Puget Sound basin and the Willamette Valley.

As this habitat has diminished due to urban sprawl and agriculture, so has Taylor's checkerspot. The butterfly is currently known to be present in just 11 sites in British Columbia, Washington and Oregon, including sites on the Olympic Peninsula, Puget Trough and Willamette Valley. The butterfly gained federal Endangered Species Act protection in 2013 as the result of Center advocacy.

Mural Project Background
The Endangered Species Mural Project has installed 15 murals in public spaces around the country. Other murals already in place include the streaked horned lark in Portland; a mountain caribou in Sandpoint, Idaho; an Arctic grayling in Butte, Montana; a monarch butterfly in Minneapolis; a jaguar in Tucson, Arizona; and grizzly bears in Oakland, California.

Learn more on our website.

Taylor's checkspot butterfly

Taylor's checkerspot butterfly by Aaron Barna, USFWS. This image is available for media use.

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.6 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

www.biologicaldiversity.org

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