Articles for the NEWS are needed

[Paul Cherubini]

Here's an article idea:

Xerces Society Seeks To Outlaw Releases of Even Locally
Raised Monarchs
 
On Oct. 4 the following article appeared in the San Francisco
Chronicle newspaper about a release of 500 locally raised
(Sacramento, Calif.) monarch butterflies to celebrate the grand
opening of Calif. Academy of Sciences new eco-friendly
building in Golden Gate Park:
 
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k75/4af/ggq.jpg

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/04/BA2L13B3HJ.DTL

According to the article, the release was just a "few flaps away
from the grove of eucalyptus trees where volunteers each year
count the local population of monarchs as part of a statewide
monitoring program." "To release butterflies so close to a
roost completely compromises the season," according to
one of the butterfly counters.

In the article, Xerces representative Mia Monroe told the
reporter: "the best outcome of the academy's butterfly
release would be new legislation outlawing such releases
altogether."

However, if you look the monitoring program count
numbers for the past 9-10 years, you will see that NO
monarchs have even been sighted at the San Francisco
cluster sites over that long stretch of years:
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k75/4af/ggn.jpg And
that's despite 10 years worth of continual school, wedding
and funeral releases in San Francisco. Or to put it another
way, even if commercial and school releases had been
outlawed 10 years ago, the Thanksgiving Counts in San
Francisco would still have been zero.

Since the "roosts" the butterfly counters talk about in
San Francisco don't really exist anymore, the 500 farm
raised monarchs that were released at the Academy
of Sciences on Sept. 27 won't actually interfere with
the upcoming November monitoring census; i.e. zero
monarchs will be counted in the Golden Gate Park
eucalyptus grove this coming November despite the release.
 
Same general situation in Los Angeles and San Diego:
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k75/4af/ggr.jpg i.e.
not hardly any monarchs have been seen at the urban
and suburban Thanksgiving Count cluster sites in San
Diego, (and to a lesser extent, Los Angeles) over the
past 9 years despite 9 years worth of ongoing commercial
and school releases.

Paul Cherubini
El Dorado, Calif.
 

 
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