Improving the monarch count

By: Joanna Gilkeson

Every year, monarchs from as far away as Idaho , Utah, Arizona and other Western states converge to spend the winter in tree groves along the Pacific coast and at a few inland sites. Following the butterflies’ arrival, citizen scientists trek to these coastal overwintering sites, 1/8 from Mendocino County, California to northern Baja California, Mexico to count the butterflies.