2023 Monarch Butterfly Release Celebration
2:00 PM - 3:30 PM Sunday, August 20, 2023
Location:
Walter J. Sullivan Water Treatment Facility
250 Fresh Pond Pkwy.
Cambridge
Neighborhood:
West Cambridge
Strawberry Hill
North Cambridge
City Wide
Cambridge Highlands
Neighborhood Nine
Contact:
Ranger Tim Puopolo, tpuopolo@cambridgema.gov
On Sunday, August 20th from 2:00-3:30pm at 250 Fresh Pond Parkway, Cambridge Water Department staff will host a public release celebration of the now-endangered Monarch Butterflies that the Department has been raising in the Fresh Pond Reservation Ranger Station since July.
This project is now in its ninth year, and Fresh Pond Reservation has received recognition as an official “Monarch Waystation” by Monarch Watch since 2018. The goals of this project are to: boost local Monarch populations through a robust raise-and-release program, educate the public on the Monarch’s migration and life history plus the threats they face, and the continual improvement of Monarch habitat by planting milkweed, building and expanding healthy meadow ecosystems, and removing invasive plants at the City’s active drinking water supply at Fresh Pond.
Schedule:
At 2:00pm, the gates will open to the back lawn of the Cambridge Water Department building where visitors can meet and greet the Monarchs, learn about our raise-and-release project, peruse educational materials, work on Jr. Ranger Badge activity booklets, participate in crafts, and learn more about milkweed and meadows from the Friends of Fresh Pond and other presenters.
Storyteller Yumi Izuyama will be begin a story telling the tale of a butterfly’s journey to Mexico (in English and Spanish) – using a traditional Japanese storytelling style called Kamishibai in the main area at 2:15pm.
At around 2:45pm, visitors are welcomed to join the procession on the main pathway to the meadow of Kingsley Park (~2-minute walk) where the Monarchs will be released. Visitors are them welcomed back to the Celebration Area to continue reviewing educational materials and to finish up their Jr. Ranger activity booklets.
Background:
In North America, the population is estimated to have dropped by nearly 90% from the 1990s to the present day and have been added to the IUCN “red list” as of July 2022. While Monarch Butterflies face numerous threats throughout their life cycle – both natural and human-induced—it is widely acknowledged that habitat loss is the single most devastating blow to the species in North America. Specifically, Monarch Butterflies depend upon milkweed, which is generally in decline across the country, for their caterpillars to hatch and mature into adults. Additionally, overwintering sites in Mexico are under threat from logging and migratory routes are threatened due to extreme weather events and pesticide use across the US.
The Cambridge Water Department sees this as an opportunity to partner and engage with the public for the benefit of both the monarch and Cambridge’s drinking water supply in the urban wild at Fresh Pond Reservation. To learn more about Fresh Pond Monarch Watch or the release, please contact Ranger Tim at (617) 349-6489 / tpuopolo@cambridgeMA.gov, or visit the webpage at www.cambridgema.gov/monarchwatch.