Bright, bold and beautiful
Students visit butterfly grove to learn and view life in a natural habitat
by Bob Behme
On warm winter days a eucalyptus grove on the border between Pismo Beach and Grover beach comes alive with bright orange monarch butterflies flitting from tree to tree, chasing each other in the bright sun or seeking water at a nearby pond.
It is a unique sight because the grove is one of the very few places these exotic creatures choose as safe shelter against the dangers of winter.
Staying from November through February, as many as 50-60,000 butterflies cluster like bright flowers on the higher branches, a scene that is exclusive to the California coast.
Experts like Dr. Kingston Leong, a Cal Poly biological scientist, estimate that there are 200-250 such " wintering places " in Central and Southern California. One of the largest is the Pismo and Grover eucalyptus grove.
Now a state park, the site is so special that it attracts thousands of tourists.
On Monday, January 30, a group of 40 second grade students and their parents bussed south from the Lillian Larson Elementary school in San Miguel, accompanied by their teacher, Peggy Metzgar to visit the butterflies. Suzen Brasile, director of the Pismo Beach Conference Visitors Bureau and city council member Rudy Natoli, along with park docents and Dr. Leong were on hand to greet the group. The students were given " Butterflies by the Beach " buttons as a memento of their trip." This is a great thing, " Natoli told the children, " Pismo Beach is lucky to have such a wonderful attraction."
For sixteen years Metzgar's second grade students have studied the monarch butterfly. This year they raised money for the bus trip, more than $ 500, by collecting and selling used aluminum cans.
In the classroom they've raised butterflies, releasing them when the insects are ready to fly. For some students their visit to the grove was the first time they realized that the butterflies they released in San Miguel would eventually find their way back to the grove where they spend the winter with the other Monarchs.
Among other details, Metzgar's students learn that the butterfly life cycle is but part of an amazing story. It is the only butterfly that migrates, spending the winters at the Pismo Grove, or at others along the coast, then in the spring and summer flying as far north as Canada to raise their young on the milkweed plant.
In the fall young butterflies complete the cycle by returning to the grove in which their parents lived. An eastern Monarch, found along the Atlantic, follows a similar pattern. It winters in Mexico.
When Dr. Leong welcomed the children he briefly outlined the butterfly's interesting life and told the students that in addition to their unique migration, Monarch Butterflies make a major contribution to Central Coast agriculture as an important pollinator.
Article courtesy of The Coast News
Page last updated 02/14/06
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