Born on the Oregon coast, Sheila grew up along the Alsea River near Waldport. She played along the banks and in the fields, swam in the water and learned to love the birds and bees that flew around her. And when she came of age she married Fred Frederickson, a timber executive with the Weyerhauser Lumber Company. The couple lived for many years in a small timber town above Seattle where Sheila settled in, became a wife and mother, and lived happily. it was there her son, Chris, grew sound and strong, living his life much as his mother had lived hers, in peace along the banks of a river. Then, less than a decade ago, Sheila Frederickson's world crumbled. Fred was diagnosed with a deadly kidney disease, given but a year or two to live.
"I thought it was end of my life as well." Sheila said, "Wife and mother. They were the only life I knew."
Fred quit work and spent his waning energies trying to come to terms with his illness. The two left the northwest and eventually settled in Grover Beach.
Not far from their house was the Pismo Beach Monarch butterfly grove, a mixture of Eucalyptus and Monterey Pines that is home to one of the largest wintering populations of an amazing butterfly. Migrating from summer sites as distant as Canada, thousands of Monarchs gather at Pismo Beach and a few other places along the Central Coast, all seeking the warming protection of numbers until spring arrives. Sheila and Fred went to the area often, almost as though they were drawn to, it. In time they began to study the butterflies.
"The more we learned about them, the more relaxed Fred became," Sheila recalls, "Somehow the things he learned calmed Fred and helped him to come to terms with his illness. He died comfortably, at peace with the world."
When, after Fred's death, Sheila learned of the Monarch's dilemma that a loss of habitat was pushing the butterfly to the brink of extinction she knew she had found a cause. Some inner force told her that it was important to find a way to help save the butterfly. Soon she had a plan, an outrageous and complex idea that might give the embattled butterflies an edge. She would create a museum, a tourist attraction and a research center. It would make people appreciate the butterfly. It would make money and the money would save the butterfly's habitat. It was an ambitious idea for a housewife from Washington State. She hardly knew where to begin. As a fifth generation granddaughter of Daniel Boone she knew she was entitled, to the family name. Then, Sheila Frederickson decided that the frontier-statesman's name was exactly the change she needed. Boone was the place to begin.
"I wanted a name that would demand attention," she said later, "There were a lot of people I wanted to meet and I thought the old family name would help."
Two populations
Monarch Butterflies, one of natures most beautiful and
unusual creatures, are split the population into two
populations each strain separated by the Rocky Mountains. In
the fall those in the east fly south to Mexico. Those in the
west settle in groves along the central California coast.
Migration, the urge to winter in a distant place, is an
instinct generally reserved for birds and fishes: it is the
Monarch's most unique aspect. The Monarch is the only
species of butterfly to fly a thousand miles or more
annually from winter to summer sites, then back. New
generations seem always to find their way to the same
wintering groves, though they have never seen them. It is
this ability that has scientists baffled. "The
migration pattern would be enough reason to save the
Monarch," says Sheila Boone.
"She is absolutely right," adds Dr. Lincoln Brower a butterfly expert, "Some Monarchs fly as far south as Mexico. Those sites are being lost due to deforestation and destruction may spell an end to the eastern migration. If it does, the California population will be the sole guardian of this amazing biological phenomenon." Dr. Brower is one of the nation's leading experts on the Monarch, a Research Professor at Sweet Briar College and a Distinguished Service Professor of Zoology, Emeritus at the University of Florida.
The butterfly's western winter habitat is limited to a few groves along the California coast and sites near Cayucos and Pismo Beach are not only examples, they are among the more important western locations. Many sites have been lost to urbanization, agriculture or to the natural decay of trees. Since the Monarch is extremely selective - sites must be humid, close to the ocean and neither too cold nor too windy - even a slight change in the number of trees may make a grove unacceptable.
"The butterfly's future depends on its central California habitats," says Dr. Kingston Leong, another expert on the Monarch and a member of Cal Poly's Biological Sciences Department. "Only six to eight wintering sites of a size that will support populations of 50,000 or more butterflies remain," says Dr. Leong. Habitat protection and restoration are two of Boone's important goals.
The museum will attract tourists, further research and raise money with which to buy endangered habitat. And the butterfly center she has in mind begins with a spectacular structure, an all glass Butterfly Palace. The building is ultra modern yet rooted in the past. It was created by Dennis Springer, a renowned architect who designed the Moody Gardens, an extremely popular tourist attraction in Galveston. Included there are a tropical rain forest and a series of butterfly exhibitions. These are also key elements in Boone's plan. Springer's concept is a building based on an historical English structure, the Crystal Palace. It, too, was all glass, erected in 1851 and famously ahead of its time. Boone's center, costing $100 million or more, will include a new Palace, a nature preserve, a silk butterfly pavilion, breeding and research laboratory facilities and an arboretum - nearly 400 acres in all. It will be built on the Nipomo Mesa, on land she is now negotiating to buy.
"The idea of a butterfly museum started in England and has since spread around the world." says Dr. Brower, "It's a very workable idea. And it is proven." A busy lady working out of a small home office, Sheila Boone is constantly on the move making phone calls, meeting with potential contributors, lecturing, appearing on television, and talking with corporate executives in attempts to increase support. She is well along with her dream, but is still in need of that one major backer who can make the plan work. Not everyone believes she can do it, that she can achieve her dream or turn it into reality, but Sheila Boone is not easily intimidated.
Currently there are more than a dozen such centers worldwide, many located near large cities. All attract large numbers of tourists and most are successful. Last year a major exhibition, sponsored by Briggs-Stratton, was held in Milwaukee. Its success and the success of other centers prove the practicality of Sheila Boone's idea. She has received funding from the Hamada Corporation, a major Japanese conglomerate, Long's Drug Stores and many others, and believes that once the land is purchased, her center could be completed as early as 2003. Both Leong and Brower are lending their support.
"It would be wrong to think she can't do it," says Dr. Leong, "Miss Boone has already accomplished some remarkable things."
Copyright © S. Boone Productions, Siamak
Sehat, Photographer