The area is near Grenada, Mississippi, and will be monitored to determine tree survival rates and wildlife uses. Partners in the project include Wildlife Forever, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. A Monarch butterfly. A national effort is underway to help learn more about Monarch butterflies. The Monarch Watch program engages thousands of students and adults in a cooperative effort to study the graceful butterflies' fall migration.
Participants receive a kit with numbered tags, adhesive and data sheets.
A specially designed tag is placed on a captured butterfly's wing. A spring edition of the Monarch News newsletter contains information about recaptures. Monarchs range north to Canada during the summer and migrate south to winter on a small mountain top area in Mexico. Some of them travel more than 2,500 miles to reach their wintering area. They return northward in the spring as air temperatures warm and flowers bloom.