Next time you shop, look for this label!

Our featured creature: the Viceroy Butterfly

The viceroy butterfly (Limenitis archippus, F. Nymphalidae) was chosen by TLC for the Conservation Partner label to be a symbolic reminder of the reasons that habitat protection is so very important. The viceroy was once found in the dry valleys of the southern interior of BC, but it has since disappeared from the province, and is now classified as ‘extirpated’. This means that while the Viceroy can be found elsewhere, it no longer occurs in British Columbia.

Rare invertebrates of the south Okanagan and Similkameen valleys such as this species are threatened not by direct exploitation, but by loss or degradation of their habitats. They are at risk because their ecosystems are at risk. The Viceroy once inhabited riverbeds, wet meadows, marshes, drainage and irrigation ditches and gallery forests, wherever willow, poplar and aspen occur. Urban and agricultural pressures have reduced suitable Viceroy habitat to a fraction of its historical distribution, leaving the Viceroy butterfly “homeless” in southern BC.

TLC believes that agriculture and conservation do not have to be in opposition, and we hope that the Conservation Partner Label can be a tool in bringing together growers with a public community that is increasingly demanding the option to purchase environmentally friendly products.