This fall the Dallas County Conservation Board invites the public to come to see the miracles present in our prairies. Join us at the Hanging Rock Conservation Area Tuesday, Sept. 18 from 7–8:30 p.m. to learn of the miracles called monarchs.
How can a bug qualify as a miracle? What’s so special about monarch butterflies? Thoreau said, “It is not what you look at, it is what you see.”
Attend this Monarch Miracles program and see a miracle the next time you look at a butterfly. We also hope that recognizing these miracles will lead you to caring about their survival and being active in their conservation.
Participants will learn of the monarch’s natural history, metamorphosis, mimicry, migration and relationship to milkweed. The program will also introduce you to the precarious nature of monarch populations in 2018 and the real need for habitat conservation to ensure the continuance of these prairie miracles.
How can you become a miracle worker? Start propagating monarch habitat in your corner of Dallas County.
In addition to this educational program, the DCCB is offering hands-on monarch tagging throughout the month as a part of Project Monarch Watch. These pop-up programs will be announced when the migrating monarchs arrive.
Unlike past years, we will not try to guess at the best date for the miracle of monarch migration. Instead, this year we will simply rejoice in the date that the butterflies move through. Staff naturalists and participants will be ready when the big push arrives. Sign-up to be on our stand-by list or watch Facebook for announcements.
When the butterflies get here in good numbers, we’ll launch into action. Program dates and times vary but are targeted for weekday evenings and weekend mornings and take place at Kuehn Conservation Area or Voas Nature Area.
These pop-up programs will share the mysteries of this butterfly migration and engage you in the tagging research of the Monarch Watch Project. Monarchs are safely caught, individually marked and then released unharmed to continue on their journey. Last year, nine monarchs tagged by DCCB taggers were spotted in Mexico.
Preregistration is required for these free programs. To reserve your spot at the Monarch Miracles show or to be placed on the contact list for monarch tagging sessions, contact the Dallas County Conservation Board at 515-465-3577 or visit the DCCB website.
Ken Keffer is the outreach coordinator for the Dallas County Conservation Board.
