Pacific Grove Monarch
Conservancy :: Habitat Protection
We are
extremely concerned about the need for further protection and
enhancement of the dwindling resources in the monarchs' overwintering
habitats
and the lack of available milkweed along the migration flyways. Pacific Grove Monarch Conservancy is working to establish and promote restoration of the urban forests and microclimates of the Monarch Grove Sanctuary and Washington Park in Pacific Grove. Pine Pitch Canker disease has ravaged the Monterey Pine forest. The habitat in Pacific Grove has been made up traditionally of Monterey Pines, Eucalyptus, and Cypress. Massive plantings of Monterey Pine seedlings by volunteers has sadly been ineffective in establishing needed additions to the microclimate.
Photos
taken
on
March
31,
2011
during a planting session to put the temporary
(potted) eucalyptus and oak trees in the ground. Students from Cal Poly
San Luis Obispo, professor Francis Villablanca, Pacific Grove deputy
city manager Jim Becklenberg, Pacific Grove arborist Rick Katen, and
other pulic works and volunteers place a second row of trees (following
Staurt Weiss' plan) in the Monarch Grove Sanctuary.
2010 MONARCH GROVE SANCTUARY UPDATE
Boxed
trees augment the row of trimmed Eucalyptus during the 2010-2011
overwintering season.
Local
Monarch
butterfly
enthusiasts,
gathered
donations and installed dozens of temporary
potted trees to
mitigate the 2009 tree trimming. As a result, the Monarchs that arrived
in Fall 2010 had a suitable microclimate to remain into the
overwintering season. The 2010 population
peaked at about 7,000, and the butterflies have persisted at the
Sanctuary well into March.
As a result of the
unfortunate 2009 trimming,
attention has been focused on the condition of the Sanctuary. In
early 2011, Dr. Stuart Weiss presented a plan to restore the viability
of the Monarch Grove Sanctuary (read Management
Plan for Monarch Grove
Sanctuary: Site Assessment and Initial Recommendations).Further recommendations were given following a March 11, 2011 meeting: March 11, 2011 site visit to Sanctuary notes by Stuart Weiss. On March 31, 2011, some of the donated boxed trees (mostly Eucalyptus) were planted about 15 feet from the row of mature Eucalyptus along the Sanctuary's South perimeter.
Dr. Stuart Weiss explains his 2011 plan to plant a second row of Eucalyptus trees at the monarchs' favorite roosting site at the Sanctuary. A yellow flag marks the future site of the first tree.
On March 31, 2011 some of the boxed trees were planted parallel to the main row of Eucalyptus.
Read an article by Kera Abraham in the Monterey
County Weekly: "Operation Butterfly" Read an article by Kera Abraham in the Monterey
County Weekly: "Monarch Movement" Read an article by Steve Chawkins in the L.A. Times:
"Anger
flutters
over
'Butterfly
Town
USA'"Read
a blog by Monte Sanford, Ph.D: "Habitat Restoration Lessons from
Pacific Grove"
2009 MONARCH GROVE
SANCTUARY UPDATE
Following a very severe pruning of the Monarchs' favorite spot -- an amphitheater of Eucalyptus trees near the south end of the Monarch Grove Sanctuary -- in late September/early October the Monarchs are in record-breaking low numbers.
Estimates in early to mid-November vary from 5 to 750, at a time that typically sees tens of thousands clustering. On December 5 2009, 989 Monarchs were counted in the Sanctuary. On December 11, 2009, there were 635. By the end of December, there were about 300, and in the first week of January, less than 10 were counted.
Read a detailed report about the causes for this failure of Pacific Grove City stewardship of the Monarch Grove (in pdf format).
