March 2014 - Parks & Recreation - 60

MONARCH BUTTERFLIES

A youngster makes a close connection with a monarch at The Wilderness Station in Murfreesboro, Tennessee's Barfield Park. The park offers hands-on learning about monarch
butterflies with its Caterpillar Garden and Changing Station, and after butterflies emerge
from their chrysalides each year, young visitors help participate in their release.

ation says her agency established their
three Waystations after applying for
and receiving a $2,000 grant from the
Rockwell Collins Green Communities
program. They also planted hundreds
of native nectar plants and milkweeds
and installed signage and related educational materials about the monarch.
Waystations are eminently fundable
projects for park and recreation agencies, and having them certified helps

to build a larger mosaic of habitat areas on migration routes for monarchs.
A textbook example of how to restore larger grasslands habitat suitable
for monarchs and other wildlife is taking place in the Power of Flight area
of Panola Mountain State Park in
Georgia. Resource Manager Phil Delestrez says they have enlisted a host
of partnering organizations, including the Georgia Native Plant Society,

Blooms, Bees, Butterflies and Birds
Turn Backyards into Havens for Wildlife

rom bird watchers to butterfly lovers, more and more people across the country
are transforming their gardens into havens for wildlife in celebration of the National Wildlife Federation's Garden for Wildlife Month, coming this May. Wildlife
gardening provides food, water, cover and places for wildlife to raise their young. NWF's
approach to gardening nurtures wildlife and also provides some important benefits
for homeowners, including the need for less water and a low-maintenance landscape.
Join more than 150,000 other wildlife gardeners across the country by participating
in this movement and explore obtaining a Certified Wildlife Habitat designation. For
more information about Garden for Wildlife Month, gardening tips, resources and certifying a Wildlife Habitat with NWF, please go to www.nwf.org/gardenforwildlife.

Parks & Recreation

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the Georgia Botanical Society, The
Nature Conservancy and the Atlanta
Audubon Society to convert about 200
acres of river-bottom fescue pasture
into native grassland using locally collected seed only. A carefully scripted
regime of fire, spot-herbicide use to
control non-native and invasive plants,
and active management has produced
a high-quality grassland habitat for all
types of wildlife.
One of the best things that parks can
do to support the future of the monarch is to educate the public about
the need for monarch conservation.
Oberhauser says that parks are ideal
places to create and sustain new habitat. " Whatever we do in parks will
have an added advantage of education
and public awareness, and this will be
magnified beyond anything else we
can do, " she shares.
In Grand Prairie, Texas, the Department of Parks, Arts and Recreation
has taken education and celebration
of the monarch to a whole new level.
Mariana Espinoza, senior recreation
supervisor, says their 2013 Flight of
the Monarch event attracted an astonishing 4,000 people who were involved
in programs and activities to celebrate
monarchs, learn about their life cycle
and find out how everyone can help
protect them. The festival included a
Kids Zone, arts and crafts, kite flying,
costumes, entertainment and distribution of native seeds, and it culminated
in a release of 425 tagged monarch
butterflies. More than just a highly successful event, the agency has engaged
its entire community on a year-round
basis in awareness and active conservation of monarch butterflies.
Paula Hill of Virginia State Parks
says they hold a Monarch Butterfly
Fiesta at Caledon State Park each year
to promote monarch conservation. In
addition, they do programs in local
schools, and they also tag and release
monarchs that are collected at the park

March 2014 - Parks & Recreation

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