Front Page Feature

Santa Maria Times

TUESDAY JANUARY 7, 2003

photos by Jeff Greene/Times

A Monarch Butterfly rests recently on a local pine tree. California's monarch butterfly population has dropped by approximately half million from last year according to Dennis Frey, a professor of biological sciences at Cal Poly.

Beauties Are Back

A Cluster of Monarchs sway in the wind

Monarchs returning in far fewer numbers

By Elizabeth Rodriguez /Times Staff Reporter

Pismo Beach- From October through March, California's monarch butterflies will make the Monarch Grove at Pismo State Beach their home. While the beauty of Monarch butterflies may fascinate visitors, many may not know their numbers are dwindling.  But many volunteers and community activists are working to let people know the predicament of the beautiful insects. " If we lose the habitats, the monarch's will become extinct", said Sheila Boone , founder of the  Butterfly Palace Inc. in Nipomo.  For the past seven years, Boone has been working on acquiring funds to build a conservatory for Monarch butterflies in the Central Coast.  Boone said the greatest danger is losing habitats-to disease or development-which the migratory insects visit each year. " The monarch is a important as our redwood forests" Boone said. " Were not going anywhere until the public is aware ". While Boone has found four potential sites on which to build the 200 acre conservatory where monarch butterflies could dwell, she is still encountering resistance from those who do not understand the importance of protecting the monarchs.  Her efforts now include children's out-reach.  She has written an educational children's coloring book and visiting classrooms to talk to children. " There are to many hard science books that don't excite children", She said.  According to professor of biological sciences at Cal Poly, Dennis Frey, the California's monarch butterfly population has dropped by approximately half a million from last year. Frey suggests the decline is a result of late winter drought.  The rain shortage caused a reduction in the plant caterpillars feed on called milkweed.  Hundreds of families marveled at the thousands of orange and black butterflies clustered on tree branches at the monarch grove one recent morning. Approximately 30,000 butterflies have migrated to the habitat this year, up from 20,000 the previous year. Though the their numbers are better this year, their count is nowhere near the 1992 record of 200,000, said docent Joe Burnett.  He said the increased numbers this year may be attributed to a good rain season.  In California, the Western monarch butterfly travels from as far north as southern Canada to as far south as Baja California, Mexico.  The butterflies travel south to escape the cold, he said. For more information on monarch butterflies, visit Boone's Web site at www.butteflypalace.org or the grove's site at www.monarchbutterfly.org

The Associated Press contributed to this story.