BUTTERFLIES: It may be easier to protect...

BUTTERFLIES: It may be easier to protect Laguna’s Monarch butterflies (B1) because of precedent set by Irvine-based developer Southwest Diversified. . . . Concern about two rare butterfly species blocked the firm’s housing project near San Francisco for 12 years until 1983, when the firm proposed the first habitat conservation plan. Two-thirds of the project’s land was preserved for the butterflies, and homeowners were assessed $4 a month for maintenance.