Butterflies & Bulldozers is an independent documentary film that tells the remarkable story of San Bruno Mountain. As the last intact fragment of the Franciscan Region, the lost landscape of San Francisco, this unique ecosystem supports forms of life that exist no other place on Earth. It is the largest urban open space in the nation - an untrammeled island in a sea of people, a wilderness on the edge of the city.

...And, it was nearly destroyed in the name of progress.

In the 1960s, wealthy and powerful development interests wanted to bulldoze the Mountain and dump its soil in San Francisco Bay. An unlikely combination of housewives and blue-collar activists joined forces and saved much of the Mountain as a public park. It was a victory both improbable and incomplete.

The discovery of rare and endangered butterflies, living on the Mountain, posed a new problem and a new battleground. The butterflies lived not only on the newly established park but also on privately owned land that was slated for development. As a result, a rift formed within the conservation community over the best way to protect the Mountain's rare butterflies. A deal was made, allies became enemies, the nation's first Habitat Conservation Plan was born and The Endangered Species Act was forever changed. That change continues to be a topic of fierce controversy on the Mountain and throughout the country.

Butterflies & Bulldozers tells the story of the continuing conflicts, compromises, successes and setbacks of a nationally significant, environmental battle. It features the original grassroots organizers to save the Mountain including Mimi Whitney, Bette Higgins, Sylvia Gregory and David Schooley. They tell their story along with other conservationists, developers, scientists, journalists and the local residents who live on, and love, San Bruno Mountain.