When I was in Cape Town in the summer of 2008, I drove past the Cape Flats. This area is now home to some of the poorest communities in the area. But one housing project there got lucky. The original plan called for lawns down to the vlei (an Afrikaans word pronounced flay that refers to a shallow flat expanse of water), but the people living there were persuaded to rehabilitate the natural environment. They responded with enthusiasm—and the Bottom Road Sanctuary was born. A variety of indigenous plants were propagated; in 2006 Victoria Willman and her team, together with the Bottom Road residents, planted twenty thousand of them! “And since then,” Victoria said, “the residents, under the direction of one enthusiastic Calvin Cochrin, have continued the work and are doing a fabulous job . . . they have a new appreciation of nature and can even tell you the scientific names of the plants. They are particularly proud of Erica [Erica verticillata] and can show you where each one is planted.”  (Read more about Victoria and the restoration of the endangered Erica Verticillata.) It is hoped that the creatures that pollinate the flowers will also return to this new sanctuary—hawk moths, wasps, bumblebees, long-proboscid flies, and also the beautiful lesser collared sunbirds. “An ecosystem is being reborn, and a new generation of young people can grow up with the opportunity to learn about their natural heritage, to preserve it, and to joy in it,” said Victoria.

Butterflies are also beautiful. The atala butterfly, a native of Florida, was driven to the brink of extinction during the 1900s as a result of habitat destruction. Atala caterpillars feed only on the leaves of the coontie, or Florida arrowroot, and this plant was extensively harvested for starch. By 1965 only a few atala butterflies remained. Fortunately, however a breeding program for these (and other endangered butterflies) was initiated at the Calusa Nature Center and Planetarium in Fort Myers. This was highly success. Whereas only one of about two-hudred butterfly caterpillars in the wild lives to reproduce, the center’s survival rate is about ninety percent.

Of course in order to reestablish atila butterflies in the wild it was necessary to restore their habitat. A campaign to raise awareness about the plight of their local butterfly was launched, and more and more people began planting coontie in their yards. And then, enthused by their efforts, they began planting species that provide food for the caterpillars and nectar for the adults of other kinds of butterflies. And so the efforts to save one species have created a brighter future for all manner of insects and birds—and brought the flutter of bright wings right into people’s gardens. As Michael Simonik, the executive director of the nature center, said: “The atala butterfly left because of man, but now is brought back by man.”