Saving the monarch butterfly starts with understanding the species’ migration and a local group has joined the cause to learn just that and are having amazing experiences in the meantime. Several members of the Uinta Basin Birds & Butterflies group attended the International Western Monarch Summit in California over the weekend. “US Forest Service biologist Natasha Hadden and Dinosaur National Monument natural resource specialist Emily Spencer presented the projects occurring in the Uintah Basin that directly contribute to the monarch butterfly during its breeding and migrational cycles,” shares the announcement. “The group was able to explore some of the overwintering sites where monarchs number in the thousands!” The work to tag and track monarch butterflies is due to the fact that monarch populations are in trouble with western populations having decreased by 99 percent since the 1980s. The Uinta Basin Birds & Butterflies group will continue their efforts to restore milkweed and other native plants, educate the public, and host tagging events that demonstrate migration paths of the majestic monarchs. A male monarch that was tagged on September 2nd in Vernal was recovered on January 3rd in California having taken a 727 mile long journey!
