The endangered El Segundo Blue butterfly already...

The endangered El Segundo Blue butterfly already has a couple of protected places to live. Chevron U.S.A. provides a habitat on sand dunes within its El Segundo refinery property. And a little to the north, Los Angeles International Airport protects the tiny butterfly on coastal dunes west of the runways.

But is the thumbnail-sized creature with blue wings flying anywhere else in El Segundo? That’s what the Tree Musketeers would like to know.

“We don’t know if there are any around the city, and that’s why we want people to report” any they see, said Tara Church, the 12-year-old youth director of the El Segundo children’s ecology group that works to improve the environment by planting trees and encouraging recycling.

In hopes of attracting the butterfly, youngsters in the group are working to create habitat areas in the city. They launched their project on Earth Day, April 22, by planting natural vegetation at Imperial Highway and Hillcrest Avenue. They are now working on a proposal to plant natural vegetation beneath power lines of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power along the city’s western border near the Hyperion Sewage Treatment Plant.

Hyperion itself is getting into the act, with plans for planting wild vegetation on a bluff on the plant’s east side. No timetable has been set for that project, however.

Gail Church, adult executive director of Tree Musketeers, said it takes about a year to create a habitat area. Vegetation not native to the area must be removed and the land replanted in native trees and wildflowers. Buckwheat, which provides food for the El Segundo Blue butterfly, “blooms as beautiful flowers,” she said.

For butterfly spotters, the Tree Musketeers’ number is 322-0263.