Pacific Grove, California is a well-known locale for seeing overwintering monarchs. Sight-seers and locals visit the Pacific Grove Monarch Sanctuary often during the winter months to witness an amazing phenomenon, thousands of butterflies resting in the trees waiting for spring and new milkweeds on which to lay their eggs; this winter, visitors enjoyed seeing about 18,000 monarchs at Pacific Grove. The Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History enhances this experience for many visitors with their monarch educational programs and other resources. We are excited to welcome the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History to the Monarch Joint Venture partnership.
Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History offers many opportunities to learn more about monarchs. They provide educational programs for students, bringing in over one thousand K-5th graders and another 200 middle school and high school students each year to learn about and aid with monarch overwintering counts. Additionally, they help connect people with citizen science monitoring programs by participating in projects like the Western Monarch Thanksgiving Count, Project Monarch Health, and tagging for Monarch Alert. Lastly, the Museum manages the interpretation at the Pacific Grove Monarch Sanctuary. Docents are available throughout the western overwintering season to enhance visitor experience by sharing additional information with visitors.
We rely on information and educational hubs throughout the country, like the Pacific Grove Natural History Museum, to help spread the monarch conservation message far and wide. In addition to their strong educational presence, they have developed a program to help enhance surrounding habitat for monarch breeding and migrating by supplying locals with native milkweeds and nectar plant seeds. Contact the museum if you live in California and are interested in growing native plants for monarchs and other pollinators.
With the recent partner additions, the MJV’s efforts to conserve both eastern and western monarchs are strengthening. This is an exciting and much needed time moving forward in monarch conservation, and we’re excited to bring public and private partnerships to the same table promoting and coordinating monarch conservation efforts.
To learn more about the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History’s monarch program, view their website here.