GUELPH - It's been over 30 years since the mottled duskywing butterfly was last seen in the province.
Thanks to a rescue team dedicated to restoring the endangered species, which includes researchers from the University of Guelph, the butterfly can now be spotted in a handful of habitats in Ontario.
The reintroduction is captured in the new documentary, Butterflies on the Brink: The Story of the Mottled Duskywing, which will have its public premiere at Princess Twin Cinemas in Waterloo this month.
The film features the work of the Ontario Butterfly Species at Risk Recovery Team, which includes Dr. Ryan Norris of U of G’s College of Biological Science, Natural Resource Solutions Inc. biologist and team chair, Jessica Linton, and executive director of Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory, Adrienne Brewster.
"It's pretty incredible to have it captured on film from beginning to the end. I think it was due to some foresight by folks involved in the project and a film crew that were there from the start," Norris said.
"Conservation problems are complex and hard to solve. But I think this film is a nice positive environmental story."
At the Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory, researchers attempted to raise thousands of duskywings to reintroduce into their natural habitat.
"It's difficult to get positive conservation story because they can take many years to do," Norris said.
"But when you have a film crew follow you over multiple years, you are able to flush out that story with all of the challenges, along with the outcome."
Funded by a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Alliance grant, the restoration project was part of a broader initiative to build university research collaborations with industry or non-profit partners.
Listed as an endangered species in 2012 due to habitat loss, U of G researchers were awarded federal funding in 2020 to reintroduce the duskywing to two locations, Pinery Provincial Park on southern Lake Huron and Norfolk County on Lake Erie.
Two years later, nine duskywings at the Pinery Provincial Park were spotted for the first time in 30 years, a momentous achievement captured on film by Pinegrove Productions.
"It is the first successful reintroduction in southern Ontario. It was incredible to pull it off, and we did it in four years. So, it's a really nice accomplishment," Norris said.
Duskywing numbers declined as development increased, destroying oak savannah and tallgrass prairie habitats.
"With European settlement, we have lots of habitat loss in Ontario due to development, agricultural fields, urban areas, and so forth," Norris said.
"The other thing is fire suppression. It is a habitat that requires infrequent fires to suppress the encroachment of woody vegetation. If you let it go, and nothing maintains it, it will turn into a closed canopy forest. And so you lose a lot of those species associated with those habitats."
With habitat loss, habitat suppression, and an overabundance of white tailed deer, Norris said it's these three forces that have really hammered the habitat, leading to either complete extirpation of some species, or leaving some in very small populations.
"But in the last decade, there have been really good efforts to restore oak savannah and tall grass prairie habitats and maintain them," Norris said.
"The Pinery is one of the best examples of oak savannah habitat in Ontario where the suppression of white tailed deer really did make a big difference. There used to be white tailed deer everywhere. Fortunately, the plants are resilient."
Norris said a lot of the plants did come back at the Pinery without active restoration and have rebounded. And since reintroducing the mottled duskywing, the butterflies are are 'alive and doing well.'
Researchers now hope to reintroduce another threatened butterfly, the frosted elfin.
“That's our next goal. We’re putting a grant together to reintroduce this butterfly species into Canada which disappeared completely over 30 years ago. There are populations in New York, but no populations here in Ontario currently," " Norris said.
"Now that these habitats are healthier, we can reintroduce them in places where they once did thrive."
Tickets for screenings at Princess Twin Cinemas in Waterloo can be purchased here. After each show, members of the cast and crew will host a Q&A for viewers.