Oak Lawn Park District horticulturist Dolly Foster released 1,000 monarch butterflies last year.
But this year her monarch numbers dropped to about 300 – yet another sign of the already struggling monarch’s vulnerability to weather and habitat loss.
That’s reason enough, Foster says, to continue on her mission to make Oak Lawn one big monarch way station, and to teach as many people as she can about the plight of the monarch and the simple ways they can help them.
Foster makes sure all 52 park district flower beds in Oak Lawn contain milkweed plants that are crucial food for monarch caterpillars, that there is milkweed included in all of the city’s summer flower containers, that milkweed plants are sold in the spring, and milkweed seeds are given away.
And at the park district’s first Monarch Festival Saturday, Foster and her volunteers will help people tag and release monarchs in an effort to further research.
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How do you tag a butterfly? Very gently, Foster said.
A coded sticker about the size of a pinkie fingernail is placed on the underside of the butterfly’s hind wing. When those numbered tags are found on butterflies that have died, generally in their wintering area of Mexico, but also in the southern states, the coded tag helps research organizations such as Monarch Watch learn more about the monarch’s amazing migration.
“They can trace the number on that tag and that information helps to fine tune and pinpoint migration patterns. That includes how far the butterfly traveled, how long it lived, and where it went,” Foster said. “If we know that, then local governments and conservationists can focus on where we need habitat along those migration routes.”
She said volunteers who tag butterflies at the festival will also be given the butterfly’s code to take home so they can go online to www.monarchwatch.org and see if the butterfly is later found. The lifespan of a breeding season monarch is only two to six weeks, but those that travel to Mexico for winter tend to live much longer.
Foster started raising monarchs seriously seven years ago at her home in Hammond, Ind. Although 2015 was a banner year in the south suburbs for Illinois’ official insect, she said this year’s numbers have been a disappointment.
Sources blame a cold, wet spring that created an extended time when the butterflies are in the vulnerable caterpillar stage. Also, an early March storm in the mountains near Mexico City where millions of monarchs from eastern North America overwinter killed butterflies and damaged habitat.
Still, all is not lost, said the cautiously optimistic Foster who hopes combined efforts across the country will help. She plans to have 150-200 butterflies for tagging at the festival, which goes on rain or shine. There also will be guest exhibitors, including The Field Museum of Chicago’s monarch team, plants and children’s activities including face painting and a bug zoo.
“The event is there to celebrate the monarch’s life cycle and the migration to Mexico, and what an amazing thing this is,” Foster said. “But we also want to share the message with our patrons that if you plant it (milkweed), they will come.”
At Lake Katherine Nature Center in Palos Heights, operations manager Gareth Blakesly said they are preparing for their 23rd Monarch Festival on Sunday.
“We’ve been talking about monarchs for a long time, but over the last few years we have really focused on the education aspect,” he said.
Lake Katherine’s festival has drawn 3,000-4,000 visitors in previous years and if the weather is good, Blakesly said, they hope to see just as many people this year.
The festival will include two outdoor tents set up in the prairie, each with 200 monarchs flying about. Visitors will be able to walk through to see the butterflies in their habitat, he said.
Educational opportunities abound with lessons on native plants and milkweed species, how butterflies migrate and where they travel. Other guest presenters are expected and many fall activities such as wagon rides will be included.
People can help monarchs by planting milkweed and other native plants, said Sue Dombro, the director at the Trailside Museum of Natural History in River Forest where they celebrated monarch migration on Sept. 11.
The Trailside festival featuring monarchs in all life stages was designed to teach visitors about migration. What’s especially exciting about that, Dombro said, is that the monarchs that hatch from mid-August into September are the ones that will migrate to Mexico for the winter.
They will feed on flowers and gain “as much weight as a butterfly can” to prepare for their long flight, she said. Instead of laying eggs and dying in two to six weeks like those hatched during the summer breeding season, these will live about eight months – long enough to escape the winter of North America, mate and lay eggs in the spring.
The fact that we had a great monarch population last year in Chicago and a dismal one this year is proof of how dependent the colorful creatures are on weather and the right plants, Dombro said. “But their numbers can also rebound pretty fast.
“I think there’s a big push for the monarch because it’s an optimistic story. We can do something right at home to help this beautiful insect and it means planting the right flowers,” she said. “That isn’t too arduous.”
Joan Cary is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
Lake Katherine Monarch Festival
Where: Lake Katherine Nature Center and Botanic Garden, 7402 W. Lake Katherine Drive, Palos Heights
When: 11 to 4:30 p.m. Sept. 18
Cost: $6. Children 2 and under are free
Information: www.lakekatherine.org
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Etc.: Parking at Palos Heights City Hall with free shuttle to Lake Katherine, or use parking facilities at 7350 W College Drive.
Oak Lawn Park District Monarch Festival
Where: Oak View Center, 4625 W. 110th St., Oak Lawn
When: 2-5 p.m., Sept. 17
Cost: Free
Information: www.olparks.com