Golf Courses are major Monarch Butterfly Overwintering Sites

[Paul Cherubini]

Chuck Vaughn  pointed out  that the Sky West Golf Course, which is now a
big overwintering site for the monarch butterfly, used to be an open
field when he was a kid in the mid-1960's. 

This observation points out another interesting fact: Big monarch
overwintering sites can be created from scratch, on previously bare
land, in just 8-15 years, depending on the species of eucalyptus that is
planted.  A good number of the eucalyptus trees on the Sky West Golf
Course are lemon gum trees and they appear to be around 20-30 years old.
I plan on studying some historical aerial photos to pin down the year(s)
when the monarch roosting trees were planted.

The species of milkweed that Chuck saw there as a kid is Asclepias
fascicularis. It still grows there at a few spots along the main
Southern Pacific railroad line and monarchs breed on it all summer. 
This milkweed, like most others, thrives on disturbed soil such as is
found in agricultural fields.

Paul Cherubini, El Dorado, California
paulcher at concentric.net