April 24, 2018
Contact: Nancy Lee Gomer, Marketing Coordinator, 636-949-7535, or 636-795-1137, ngomer@sccmo.org
St. Charles County, Missouri – The Missouri Butterfly Monitoring Network (MBMN) is looking for citizen scientists who want to help create an accurate count of the butterfly population in St. Charles County. Join Tad Yankoski, Director of the MBMN and Entomologist at the Butterfly House in Chesterfield, for a short training session from 6:30–8:30 p.m., on Friday, May 18, at the Broemmelsiek Visitors Center in Broemmelsiek Park near Wentzville. No prior knowledge of butterflies is required; beginners welcome!
It’s easy! As a butterfly monitoring volunteer, you will be trained on how to identify the 25 most commonly encountered butterfly species; how to select, create and monitor a route; and how to upload the data to the North American Butterfly Monitoring Network. Collecting this vital data will assist the network understanding what changes are occurring to the native butterfly population across the continent.
St. Charles County parks are the perfect locations for MBMN volunteers to monitor butterflies this summer! Many of our parks feature restored habitats, such as prairies, wetlands and savannas, which are known to attract a variety of butterfly species.
You can attend the training and then decide if monitoring is a good fit for you. Either way, this is the perfect opportunity for those 14 and up to learn about native butterflies and how the monitoring network works. Teens ages 14–17 must be accompanied by an adult. All MBMN monitors become Missouri Botanical Garden volunteers and receive all Botanical Garden volunteer benefits! Visit https://www.monarchnet.org/missouri-butterfly-monitoring-network for more information, or contact Yankoski at tad.yankoski@mobot.org or call 314-577-0817.
The butterfly monitoring training session is free, but pre-registration is requested. Call the St. Charles County Parks and Recreation Department at 636-949-7535 or go online at http://bit.ly/2HosMVC to register. Broemmelsiek Park is located at 1795 Highway DD near Defiance.
-end-