When I was 12 years old, I spent a summer with my family at a small cottage on the shore of Lake Michigan, just an hour north of Milwaukee.
The location was private, and we were lucky to have the lake just 20 feet in front of our house and a small Audubon Preserve located on the dirt road behind the cottage.
While my dad and I were walking up the one-mile road, we noticed activity outside the small building that we always thought was a deserted shed on the Audubon property.
My dad, in his usual neighborly manner, waved at the group and we introduced ourselves as one of the summer cottage families.
They explained that they were students at the University of Wisconsin Department of Horticulture and were staying at the camp (as they called it) to study the migration of the monarch butterfly.
Their summer job was to locate, record and tag the migrating butterflies. Nearly a teenager, I couldn’t imagine anything quite as boring as sleeping in a shed to study butterflies, but my dad thought the whole process was fascinating.
He watched with great interest as they showed him the small stickers to be placed on the butterflies’ wings and the record-keeping methods written about each butterfly.
The butterflies that we were seeing in Wisconsin had traveled from Canada headed to their destination in Mexico.
My dad was hooked, said he would love to help and he was hired as their first volunteer!
We became part of the great “Monarch Watch,” even back in 1960, and little did I know that decades later, I too would be assisting in the preservation of this amazing species.
HOW CAN WE HELP THE WESTERN MONARCH?
Each year monarchs congregate in colonies along the California coasts. Although not as well known as the colonies in Mexico, the overwintering grounds of the western monarch population are also critical for their survival and monitored each year by volunteers for the Xerces Society.
The Thanksgiving counts are performed each year in the fall after monarchs have returned from their breeding grounds.
Over 300 sites are regularly counted and over 100 volunteers participate each year. To volunteer and assist in the monitoring of the western monarch, visit www.westernmonarchcount.org.
MONARCH WATCH
There are many organizations, such as the Xerces Society, that make it their mission to save and preserve the existing monarch population.
“Given the great numbers of monarchs (up to 100 million) that gather to migrate each fall, it is hard to imagine them facing any threat of extinction. In reality, however, monarchs and their amazing annual migration are seriously threatened by human activities, in both their summer and overwintering sites. Many of these threatening activities hinge on the destruction of good monarch habits,” according to the Xerces Society newsletter.
COLLECTING AND GROWING MONARCHS
If you and your family and friends wish to enlarge and preserve the population of western monarchs, you can help by gathering the larvae of the female butterfly that has been laying eggs for the past few weeks in North County.
We all see these lovely creatures darting through our butterfly gardens, and Monarch Watch at www.monarchwatch.org has given us full-page instructions for the growth and preservation of these lovely creatures. Here is how to start.
MONARCH HABITAT
Find a clean, gallon glass container with a lid. Poke holes in the lid and fill the container with milkweed leaves. Gently place your green caterpillar in the jar on a branch.
Once these larvae emerge, they will need fresh milkweed leaves every day. Simply harvest fresh leaves from the branches of your garden plant each day.
You will be surprised at how much the little critters eat — and poop! So, the jar must be emptied each morning.
From then on, the budding scientists can watch as the larvae eat their way through jars full of leaves each day. As the larvae become larger, they will need to be moved to larger glass containers.
THE FINAL PHASE
When larvae are ready to pupate, they crawl to the top of the cage and attach themselves with silken thread. They drop their larval skin and create the hard shell of a chrysalis.
Adults emerge in 10-14 days. This process is amazing to watch and usually happens in the morning. Allow the emerging butterfly to dry, and keep in the cage for 24 hours before releasing.
Please remember this is a small-scale home garden project and not meant for the sale or mass production of butterflies. Contact Monarch Watch or call them for details and supplies at 785-864-4441.
To take part in the Western Monarch Count in November, contact www.westernmonarchcount.org.
NEIGHBORHOOD MONARCH LOVERS
Recently, I had the pleasure of exploring a butterfly garden at the Village Rock Shop at 2690 State Street in Carlsbad Village. There, owner Xenia Mateiu and her gardener, Chris Bany, have been planting butterfly plant material and creating a monarch butterfly project for over three years.
For a look at their butterfly project, visit the shop, open daily, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Carlsbad librarian Cathleen Baxter was also helpful in sharing her many years of experience with raising monarchs at her home in Carlsbad. Call the library at 442-339-2049 to find books about monarchs and talk to Cathleen in the Children’s Library.
SHARE YOUR STORIES
Have you and your family or garden friends taken part in the Monarch Watch or raising butterflies? Contact me at [email protected], and we will share your story.
Jano Nightingale is a Master Gardener and horticulturist and teaches vegetable gardening at the Carlsbad Senior Center. Contact her at [email protected] or call the Senior Center at 442-339-2650 for future classes.
