We’re reintroducing plant and animal species once lost at the Presidio.
Ecological restoration at the Presidio over the past two decades has allowed many native species to come home on their own.
Yet, some need our help to return, such as the Franciscan manzanita, Pacific chorus frogs, Western pond turtles, three-spine stickleback fish, the San Francisco forktail damselfly, the variable checkerspot butterfly, and California floater mussels.
These case studies explore some our efforts to bring back native plants and animals.
The Franciscan manzanita, an endangered plant species native to San Francisco, was thought to be extinct in the wild until a single specimen was rediscovered in 2009 during Presidio Parkway construction. Since then, a successful conservation and recovery effort has resulted in the establishment of multiple populations of the plant.
The Presidio Trust, in partnership with the San Francisco Zoo and Sonoma State University, is restoring the Western pond turtle population at Mountain Lake through a captive breeding and reintroduction program.
Pacific chorus frogs almost went extinct from San Francisco but were restored to the Presidio in the 2000s.
Once common throughout San Francisco, the variable checkerspot butterfly was lost to San Francisco decades ago. After habitat restoration and reintroduction, it’s again one of the most abundant butterfly species in the Presidio.