Local efforts to study and conserve monarch butterfly populations are making a difference and volunteers received exciting news last week. One of the butterflies tagged this season in the Vernal area has been spotted nestled for the winter in a cluster of monarchs at the Pacific Grove Monarch Sanctuary in California. The Southwest Monarch Study reported that Monarch CM889 had flown 716 miles to reach the Monterey Pine tree it is now resting in along with over 5,000 other monarch butterflies. 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. Local conservation groups have continued efforts in recent years to restore milkweed and other native plants, educate the public, and host tagging events that demonstrate migration paths of the majestic monarchs. This was the 3rd monarch in 2 years tagged in the Vernal area that was spotted far, far away on its migration path.
