Balcones Canyonlands Refuge Part of Three-Nation Focus on Monarchs

Last month, Canada, the United States and Mexico joined together to work on the North American Monarch Conservation Plan that outlines a collaborative agenda of nearly 60 specific actions including education about the monarch butterfly. Five national wildlife refuges including one in Texas are part of the trilateral Monarch Butterfly Sister Protected Area Network.

At the Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge near Austin, work started back in 2000 to tag monarchs when they came through central Texas. The refuge has also worked to educate children in grades 3-5 with its “Going Buggy” program. In the past year, the refuge has invited school science labs to let monarchs emerge in schools by providing chrysalis from caterpillars attracted to the milkweed planted in flowerbeds around the new refuge headquarters.

The milkweed has attracted monarchs by the score, according to Balcones Canyonlands Refuge Manager Deborah Holle. “We didn’t really appreciate how much people are fascinated by monarchs. We have had a tremendous response to ‘Going Buggy’.”

October’s National Wildlife Refuge Week

During this year’s National Wildlife Refuge Week, the refuge will invite people to watch butterflies at their leisure in a tent set up for the celebration October 11. Kids and families will be able to look at butterflies – including monarchs – to their hearts’ content and, in the process, and learn to distinguish monarchs from other butterflies.