The City of Brookings has been designated a “Monarch City” by Monarch City USA, a non-profit corporation in Washington State.
One of the principal goals of Monarch City USA is to encourage America’s municipalities to directly help the monarch butterfly population recover through planting milkweed and nectar plants within their borders.
“Congratulations to the City of Brookings, Oregon!” said Monarch City USA Director Russell Stubbles, “They have just become the newest member of Monarch City USA and the first member city in Oregon. Welcome and thank you to Dennis Triglia for his work to make it happen. Wings up!”
The Brookings-Harbor area has about five Monarch Waystations (with more planned this year) of the state’s total of 85 which have been certified by Monarch Watch.org, an organization started in 1992 as an educational outreach program dedicated to engaging the public in studies of monarchs and concentrating its efforts on monarch conservation.
Several individual members of the Brookings Oregon Monarch Advocates, collect monarch butterfly eggs found on milkweed and raise them indoors, away from predatory wasps and flies, until they emerge from a chrysalis. They are then “tagged” with a small label containing a specific code number and an email address for finders to report a sighting, and then released. This information is tallied and published by Washington State University with the goal of tracking the migratory routes of the Western Monarch to its overwintering sites in California and occasionally as far south as Mexico.
“We are pleased to receive this special recognition for our City,” said Mayor Jake Pieper. “We believe this designation will be a benefit to our tourism efforts. We hope all the citizens will get involved in this activity.”
City Council also issued a Proclamation at the May 8, 2017 regular Council meeting, proclaiming June as Monarch Butterfly Month and encouraging residents to plant and protect native milkweed and nectar sources so that Monarchs migrating through Brookings have the necessary resources to survive.