Born and raised in Austin, Texas, Dr. Jana Johnson always had a bond with animals. Across the street from her home she played in a creek and grew up with insects and reptiles. Her fondness for bugs led her to earn her doctorate in 2008 at UCLA in ecology and evolutionary biology.

Now a biology professor at Moorpark College, Jana Johnson was one of 29 nominees for the prestigious Indianapolis Prize in 2010, the world’s leading award which honors the work of animal conversationalists.

Her nomination for the Indianapolis Prize acknowledges the work she has done as the founder of The Blue Butterfly Project, a captive butterfly-rearing lab based out of America’s Teaching Zoo at Moorpark College.

“We’re dealing with endangered butterflies that are going extinct because of the action of mankind, not naturalist extinctions,” Johnson said. “We are helping to save the species.”

While at UCLA, Johnson worked under Rudi Mattoni, who founded the first captive rearing program in San Pedro. In 2003, Mattoni retired and Johnson took over the project.

The Butterfly Project was originally established in 2007 at Moorpark College as a secondary breeding site for the Palos Verdes blue butterflies, which were once thought to be extinct. Within the first year of moving, there were less than 100 butterflies mating, and a year later there were more than 700 butterflies.

Johnson’s research has annually facilitated the reproduction and release of thousands of butterflies into the wild.