CSU’s Colorado Natural Heritage Program Partners with Colorado Brewer to Save Blue Hops Butterfly

A rare Colorado butterfly has brought Colorado State University’s Colorado Natural Heritage Program and Odell Brewing together in a novel partnership.

The Colorado Natural Heritage Program, a part of CSU’s Warner College of Natural Resources, has partnered with Odell Brewing to help with conservation efforts of Colorado’s rare hops blue butterfly (Celastrina humulus). On May 18, Odell Brewing will debut Celastrina Saison – a new addition to Odell Brewing’s Cellar Series of beers that will raise money for rare species conservation research.

Named after the rare hops blue butterfly, the Celastrina Saison beer was brewed in honor of a novel partnership between the Colorado Natural Heritage Program and Odell Brewing Company to help conserve and fund research for this unique Colorado butterfly. Odell Brewing will donate $1 towards CNHP’s blue hops butterfly research for every bottle of Celastrina Saison sold. This new beer will be sold across Odell’s 10-state region with a label showcasing the male hops blue butterfly and an explanation of the partnership.

The blue hops butterfly lives on wild hops and is only found in a handful of places around Colorado. It is one of many rare species that CNHP works to track and conserve as part of Colorado’s natural heritage. The CNHP has worked for 30 years to research, document and conserve rare and native species across the state.

Rob Schorr and Jeremy Siemers, zoologists with CNHP, first came upon the hops blue butterfly in Colorado Springs while conducting a biological inventory and later developed a research plan to monitor the butterfly and assess the prevalence of it and its host plant, the wild hops. The plan was unfunded. Last year, Schorr shared his idea with Odell Brewing Company and this collaboration developed out of a common goal of conserving this species unique to Colorado.

Odell Brewing and CNHP will raise a pint for butterfly conservation with the release of Celastrina during the brewery’s Tap Room celebration the weekend of May 18.

About the Colorado Natural Heritage Program

CSU’s Colorado Natural Heritage Program (CNHP) is a non-profit organization that has been collecting and analyzing data on rare species and habitats in Colorado, and providing information and expertise to promote conservation of Colorado’s biological resources. CNHP conducts biological inventories throughout Colorado and the West and provides data to private, state, and federal partners, where it can guide management and conservation of species and their habitats. For more information, visit www.cnhp.colostate.edu.
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