Education and Outreach

Education and Outreach 2011-2022

 2022

Beyond the Mexico Book Project Completed!

This overwintering season, the Environmental Alliance of Georgia (EEA) completed their book project successfully! Along with the symbolic migration, Journey North’s Estela Romero visited 43 schools giving conservation lessons and books, reaching over1,400 students and teachers! Schools in all three major sanctuary areas including Cerro Pelón, El Rosario, Sierra Chincua, and La Mesa participated in the program. One of the principals expressed her gratitude saying it was “an honor to have you visit us for several years now. Your lessons on conservation awaken in our children a real feeling and interest in caring about the conservation of our own natural surroundings. Your books are so wonderful and beautiful. They are excellent material on which we can base our lessons and activities.” And the kids said it too: “The butterflies are like a blanket keeping us warm! They are like the “big wall” of China protecting us! They regulate the climate! They call the rain!” We agree with the kids and are glad to have funded this project which will help raise awareness of the importance of the butterflies, the forests and conservation!

Kids at La Patria Elementary School during the lessons

 2021

First International Monarch Butterfly Festival

To celebrate the monarch’s arrival for the 2021-2022 overwintering season, the new municipal government of Zitácuaro organized the first edition of the International Monarch Butterfly Festival. This festival aims to boost tourism in the region through various cultural, artistic, and academic activities that highlight the importance of conservating the monarch’s migratory phenomenon and environmental conservation. Isabel Ramírez, MBF Board member, gave a conference and unveiled a commemorative plaque as shown below.

Monarch Fund Documentary

MBF and other organizations are funding the documentary “Monarch Fund: 20 Years of Synergy for Conservation”. So far, eight filming sessions have been conducted in the monarch territory including interviews and meetings in community and ejido assemblies. The topics included forest use and management, deforestation, forest recovery, defending the land, tourism, and its importance for forest conservation. Additionally, those involved in the creation of the fund were interviewed to learn about its history, conservation strategy, and implementation.

On October 13, the Neo-volcanic Axis Conservation Fund (FOCEN) presented updates of their “Monarch Fund: 20 Years of Synergy for Conservation” documentary during the ‘Week in Information Exchange in Conservation’. FOCEN showcased the Fund’s main milestones in ArcGIS StoryMap, an application that combines text, interactive maps, and multimedia content. Highlights include the Fund’s payment for environmental services which encourage local communities to participate in conservation activities. You can view the StoryMap at https://tinyurl.com/6xw9a7p8. MBF has partially funded this project and we are pleased to see the progress!

Beyond the Mexico Book Project

The Environmental Alliance of Georgia (EEA)  this project originally estimated that Journey North’s Estela Romero would make thirty school (sixty classroom) visits to reach an estimated 1,400 students. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, in the end, she was able to make 53 visits reaching 1,137 students, nearly meeting the original goal! Most of the lessons were delivered in the communities in or surrounding the sanctuaries of Sierra Chincua and El Rosario.  At the beginning of the overwintering season, on November 4, 2021, Ms. Romero gave her environmental lessons to over one hundred students in the elementary, middle, and high schools in Macheros.

Her lesson on the benefits of trees and the importance of forest conservation is demonstrated through models of degraded versus thriving forests in their ability to sustain wildlife, retain water, etc. Copies of the books Árboles: de la Semilla al Imponente Bosque (Trees: from Seed to Impressive Forest) and Escucha Hablar a los Árboles (Listen to the Trees Talk), were handed out. Estela’s blog is available at the Symbolic migration website (https://symbolicmigration.org/) where you will find detailed descriptions of her visits and more photos like the ones below:

Monarch Network

The Red Monarca (Monarch Network – https://redmonarca.org/home_eng/) has been updated to include an English interface! The StoryMap described above is included on the website and records have been added to the Documentation Center including student theses from the main universities in Mexico, as well as scientific research articles. MBF is a proud sponsor of this website which is making the Network stronger and able to promote and disseminate protection, conservation, and development activities in the monarch region.

The website has been updated with the most current content, and new technologies were added to improve performance of the network’s Geographic Information System and searches in the Documentation Center (DC). Another exciting and useful feature is the DC’s report page with a visually attractive interphase to search by different criteria. MBF is thrilled to see the consolidation of information for monarch enthusiasts all over North America!

Monitoring with Citizen Science in the West

Last year, Terra Peninsular held a webinar and created promotional materials to encourage people to monitor and upload monarch sightings. This year they created an eBook which explains monarch biology, its migration, the importance of maintaining their habitat and of creating pollinator gardens, among other things. Reports were received on Facebook and Instagram from different parts of the country such as Chihuahua and Puerto Peñasco. During October, the sightings intensified, obtaining 27 records between the cities of Tijuana and Ensenada. There was only one sighting of a group of 10 monarch butterflies on citrus trees south of the port of Ensenada. The rest were records of solitary monarch butterflies, some accompanied by Queen butterflies. MBF is happy to support this project which is done in collaboration with the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas and has been part of the Northwest Monitoring Network since 2016.

2020

Monitoring with Citizen Science in the West

This year, a new and exciting initiative came our way to support a monitoring project in Baja California! Not much is known about the monarch migratory route along the coasts of California and Baja California. However, in 2016, the Northwest Monitoring Network was established to learn more about the western migration. Terra Peninsular, a conservation organization that works in the Baja California peninsula, is going to engage communities through virtual workshops (due to Covid-19) to join the monitoring efforts. They will select sites where monarchs are present and count butterflies as they fly by in intervals following the National Monarch Butterfly Monitoring Network protocols. We are pleased to endorse this study of monarchs in Northwestern Mexico which opens up a new part of the understanding the monarch migration.

On November 19, 2020, Terra Peninsular held a webinar inviting people to monitor and upload monarch sightings in the “Monarchs in the West” and “Correo Real” data bases in the iNaturalista web page. The webinar, carried out on Facebook Live, replaced the participatory workshop that was planned before COVID-19 and was attended by 26 people. However, more than 4,500 have watched the webinar video on YouTube (https://youtu.be/fP_TJRJ7WRM). Through January 2020 and February 2021, six sightings were recorded and 18 in the Mexico’s northwestern part (16 in 2020 and 2 in 2021). Additionally, in November 2020, visits were made to six previously registered locations in coastal Baja California to survey and monitor monarchs. Among the sites visited, very few monarch butterflies were found, with just four at the Real del Mar site in Tijuana. Some photos of the visited sites can be viewed on Flickr at https://flic.kr/s/aHsmUnkxUC.

2020

Monarch Fund Documentary

The Monarch Fund is celebrating 20 years of work in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve (MBBR) conserving the forest and supporting environmental services in the core zone of the protected area. With funding from MBF, Fondo Mexicano para la Conservación de la Naturales (FMCN), and the U.S. Forest Service, a documentary titled “Monarch Fund: 20 Years of Synergy for Conservation” is in progress. The documentary will show the how the Monarch Fund was established through interviews with the people involved in its development and those who currently operate it. Not only will it give a historical perspective but it aims to recognize the effort and commitment shown by the government authorities, non-profits and communities that own the forests, to work together to establish a permanent conservation mechanism by giving payments for environmental services, thus fostering the reduction of  illegal logging and increasing forest cover in the MBBR’s core zone.

Beyond the Mexico Book Project

The Environmental Alliance of Georgia (EEA) is making progress with their book project with the help of Journey North’s Estela Romero. With the pandemic schools remain closed but once a week or every other week, teachers meet with students at the school to collect homework, exams, and answer questions. Taking advantage of this opportunity Estela is making plans to deliver her lessons to students and meet with small groups in open areas in the communities. Estela is writing about her experiences on her Journey North blog at https://symbolicmigration.org/. MBF provided the funds to purchase the materials for the lessons which cover topics such as the benefits of trees and the importance of conserving forests among others.

Monarch Network

The Red Monarca (Monarch Network – www.redmonarca.org) continues updating its digital platforms including the Geographic Information and the Documentation Center. Activities, maps, scientific papers, and student thesis have been uploaded including the latest information from all the network’s partners.

One of these partners, Ambiente Cielo Rojo, continues working on the network’s audiovisual communication project. During the past year they have been working on a documentary titled “Maize Guardians: A Struggle for Food Security” which will be broadcast to the general public as well as local farmers, who are the major players in the conservation of the region’s natural heritage.

The documentary is expected to be completed by Spring of 2021. By promoting, motivating, and highlighting the importance of the work of farmers in maintaining the production of Creole maize, it will contribute to the conservation of Creole maize and the “milpa”-crop growing system used in Mexico. As part of this project five video capsules have been developed and can be viewed at https://redmonarca.org/capsulas_cielorojo/.

Climate Change Workshop in Zitácuaro, Mexico

The second workshop “Ecological Restoration Adaptable to Climate Change in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve (MBBR)” was held on February 27 with the participation of 101 stakeholders that included representatives from agrarian authorities, civil society organizations, academics, and governments. MBF Advisors, Dr. Cuauhtémoc Sáenz and Dr. Diego Perez Salicrup, MBF board member Dr. Isabel Ramírez, were presenters.

The workshop was directed at property owners, forest technicians and government institutions to share results on the research that has been carried out in the MBBR and improve the capacities of key stakeholders working in forest management, protection, and restoration. The objective was to develop a forest restoration proposal that will be linked to the MBBR’s Management Plan, the Comprehensive Fire Management Plan, the 2014-2018 Monarch Conservation in Mexico Action Plan, and the Monarch Butterfly Adaptation to Climate Change Plan.

Audience at Workshop and Dr. Sáenz giving his lecture

Monarch Network Launches Video in Mexico City

On February 18, the Monarch Network released the video “Biodiversity: Beyond the Monarch” which highlights the amazing variety of species living in the MBBR. The video included the wildlife videos and acoustics recorded during 2016 as part of a project funded by MBF. During the event, the media and the public watched the video after listening to a tribute to Dr. Lincoln Brower given by Mónica Missrie from MBF. Presentations followed from several members of the Monarch Network including MBF Board member Dr. Isabel Ramírez discussing monarchs and climate change. The video is subtitled in English and was streamed in the U.S. and Canada. MBF is proud to be a member of the Monarch Network and to support the development of this video.

2019

Mural in Sierra Chincua

As part of the opening ceremonies of the 2019-2020 tourist season, a mural was inaugurated at Sierra Chincua showing its biological and cultural diversity.  This project, the result of MBF’s collaboration with Ejido Cerro Prieto and other local partners (the MBBR, the Monarch Fund, and UNAM’s Center for Research in Environmental Geography [CIGA]), depicts diverse species of plants, fungi, birds, mammals and other insects that are part of the monarch butterfly’s habitat. It also shows the daily activities of people in the local community as well as some threats to butterflies. The mural is surrounded by a series of iron and cement sculptures symbolizing the migratory cycle of butterflies. The mural was painted by Maestro Enrique Téllez Hernández, originally from Angangueo, Michoacán. This space transforms what was a garbage incinerator into a cultural and tourist structure that makes the community proud and represents an interest in forest activities that are the least harmful to nature.

Citizen Science with Correo Real

Correo Real’s program “My Municipality with the Monarch (Mayor´s Monarch Pledge) continued. With funding from MBF they set up ten pollinator gardens in local schools and held five training workshops for personnel from the municipalities participating in the Pledge.  Ten metal plaques marked the dedication of each pollinator garden as a site to feed and shelter butterflies, bees, hummingbirds, and other pollinators. Additionally, Correo Real participated in three events to promote the initiative with different stakeholders and interested citizens and printed 1,000 copies of the fact sheets describing the Pledge. Other outreach activities included the publication of 22 newsletters in Spanish throughout the year, out of which seven were translated into English, and 42 Facebook postings that reached 128,306 people. Last but not least, Correo Real held a workshop from November 28-29, 2018, at Alternare’s Training Center. Key topics addressed were environmental education, citizen science, pollinator gardens, and forestry culture and outreach.

MBF Supports Environmental Alliance with Book Project

This year MBF is supporting the Environmental Education Alliance of Georgia in a project titled “Beyond the Mexico Book Project”. This project is an extension of Monarchs Across Georgia (MAG), a literacy program which began in 2003.  Grade-level appropriate science and nature-based books written in Spanish will be purchased and delivered to thirty schools (with an estimated 60 classrooms and 1,400 students) near the monarch sanctuaries of El Rosario, Sierra Chincua, and Cerro Pelón during the 2020-21 school year coinciding with the monarch migration. Along with those books, a monarch-related environmental lesson will be presented by Estela Romero, a resident of Angangueo and Journey North collaborator. Students will learn about the monarch life cycle, the importance of the overwintering forest, their declining population and their relationship with other animals and plants, emphasizing the importance of forest conservation. We are happy to support this environmental education project that will help develop reading skills and increase both nature and science awareness leading to more environmentally responsible Mexican citizens.

Monarch Joint Venture—MJV

MBF continues to support the Monarch Joint Venture’s general operations supporting their mission-centered work. In the midst of dropping numbers for both the eastern and western monarch populations, the work of the MJV and its partners to increase and restore habitat is crucial. 2019 goals included restoring habitat, educating to inspire conservation action, and advancing science efforts.

Throughout 2019, the MJV partnered to provide professional development for 78 educators, reached more than 2,000 people at outreach events, and offered multiple webinars to hundreds of participants. Additionally, 180 people collected milkweed, nectar plant, and monarch data from sites in more than 23 states through the MJV’s Integrated Monarch Monitoring Program. This data is vital to shaping our understanding of how monarchs interact with their environment. In collaboration with partners, the MJV also developed tools to aid roadside managers in assessing and prioritizing pollinator habitats on transportation lands. The impact of monarch conservation is strengthened by the MJV’s focus on building partnerships and promoting collaborations. Working with more than 90 partners across the United States, the MJV annually prepares the Monarch Conservation Implementation Plan to collaboratively conserve the monarch migration.

Audiovisual Project

Ambiente Cielo Rojo has finished the video titled “Biodiversity: Beyond the Monarch”, which explores the value of other species in the Reserve that are also important to maintain the overwintering ecosystem of the monarchs. The film includes the biodiversity monitoring that MBF funded last year and contains images from the wildlife cameras collected by several NGOs, including members of the Monarch Network (Red Monarca). The official launch of the film will be in February. 2020. a part of Red Monarca’s outreach efforts.

6th Monarch Symposium in Toluca

MBF board members, Karen Oberhauser, Isabel Ramirez, and Alfonso Alonso, gave oral presentations at the 6^th International Symposium on Research and Conservation of the Monarch Butterfly.  This symposium was held in Toluca, Mexico, from March 7 to 9, 2019, and organized by the National Commission of Protected Areas (CONANP), the governments of the states of Michoacán and Mexico, and by the Alianza Telcel WWF-Mexico. Thirty speakers presented recent findings on monarch research and conservation, with an audience of about 300 people. Participants included representatives of the federal, state, and municipal governments of the states of Michoacán and Mexico, members of the Ejidos (land owners), as well as researchers from several academic institutions and non-governmental organizations from Mexico and the U.S.

Documentation Center

Razonatura continues making progress with the Red Monarca’s Documentation Center.  Currently they are incorporating information from the Community Water Monitoring Network of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve and the Phenological Network in the monarch region into the Red Monarca’s website. Including these two key networks on the website as part of the Monarch Network will strengthen the Network, and increase the visibility of all the organizations, allowing for further cooperation and outreach with all the stakeholders working in the monarch area.

2018

Citizen Science with Correo Real

MBF and other organizations are supporting an education and citizen science program in Northern Mexico along the migratory route and overwintering sites of the monarch butterfly. Under PROFAUNA, A.C’s watch and coordinated by Correo Real this project includes strengthening an ongoing program titled “My Municipality with the Monarch (Mayor´s Monarch Pledge).  Started in 2017, this initiative involves adding municipalities where monarchs rest, feed and fly during the fall migration, to participate in creating pollinator gardens and other activities. The project includes carrying out pollinator garden workshops, increasing outreach efforts through websites and social media, among others. Read all about this initiative in Correo Real’s latest Spring 2018 newsletter (in English).

Audiovisual Project

Ambiente Cielo Rojo, an organization created by filmmakers and forestry, social, environmental, and technology experts, produces multimedia projects that foster awareness of the environment, culture, and art. As members of the Red Monarca (Monarch Network), Cielo Rojo received a grant from MBF to work on an audiovisual communication project for the Network for 2018-2019. The first stage of the project is to provide a video introduction to the monarch region focused on the challenges it currently faces. The initiative led by José Antonio de la Cruz Hernández, will help promote Red Monarca among people and organizations in the region. During the international symposium on the Monarchs in Morelia, Red Monarca used one of Cielo Rojo’s videos in their presentation! You can see the Red Monarca video on Cielo Rojo’s Facebook page.  In October 28, 2018 Cielo Rojo’s movie “Taco Mazahua” was selected for the “Planet in Focus” movie festival in Toronto, Canada  and received the Mark Haslam award given to documentaries that give a voice to individuals, communities and conflicts that are underrepresented in the media.

Monarch Symposium in Morelia

The 5^th International Monarch Butterfly Research and Conservation Symposium, was held in the city of Morelia, Michoacán on March 7-8, 2018. MBF board member, Alfonso Alonso, gave introductory remarks encouraging everyone to make an extra effort to connect with other participants and create partnerships to continue seeking and finding strategies for the long-term conservation of the monarch butterfly migration, an endangered phenomenon.

Alfonso gave encouraged everyone to make an extra effort to connect with other participants and create partnerships to continue seeking and finding strategies for the long-term conservation of the monarch butterfly migration, an endangered phenomenon. He also commented on the increased impact tourism is having on the two sites that are currently open to the public and suggested  the possibility of opening other sites. However, this idea requires very careful planning and consideration.

MBF was also represented at the meeting by other board members and collaborators, including Isabel Ramírez, Diego Pérez, Cuauhtémoc Saenz, Guadalupe del Río (Alternare), Claudia Guerrero (UNAM), and Arnulfo Blanco (University of Michoacán). They presented and discussed topics that included reforestation strategies within the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve (MBBR), management of fire, genetics of fir forests, natural regeneration, and management of riparian systems. Additionally, Red Monarca (Monarch Network) which includes Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) that work in the MBBR and surrounding areas, discussed the importance of joining efforts to achieve lasting conservation in the overwintering areas.

Documentation Center

As part of the Monarch Network (Red Monarca), MBF started funding the development of a Geographic Information System (GIS) geared towards creating a tool to help plan, analyze and communicate all the activities undertaken by the NGOs that are part of the Monarch Network. Led by Colectividad Razonatura, A.C.,  the project evolved into the creation of a Documentation Center in the Monarch Butterfly Area that organizes information on different topics pertaining Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve (MBBR) in a data base. This digital platform organizes, classifies and makes available to the interested public and society in general, information related to the MBBR area. The portal is also available in English and users can search information by different criteria, such as title, author(s), year and type of publication, thematic area classified by activities in the MBBR, general topic, key words, among others.

Funding for Carpinteros Indigenous Community

The indigenous community of Carpinteros has one the best conserved forests in the MBBR’s core zone, with forest cover greater than 50% on 92% of its surface, thus making it a strategic site that is ideal for overwintering monarchs. Since 2000, this community has been receiving payments for conservation services for their efforts from the Monarch Fund as well as the National Forest Commission (CONAFOR), and they have proven worthy of it! In 2013, they were awarded a prize by CONAFOR and won second place in the “Films for the Forest” international short film festival for their movie “Ejidatarios del Bosque”, in which they describe community forest management for the conservation of biodiversity. MBF added funds to complete the conservation services payments for this year due to adjustments made to the property maps in the MBBR. The payments were given on October 7 in a community assembly. MBF proudly supports Carpinteros in their efforts to maintain a conserved forest!

 

 

 

 

 

Monarch Joint Venture

During 2018, MBF partially funded two Monarch Joint Venture (MJV) programs: the “Integrated Monarch Monitoring Program” (IMMP) and the “Educational Resources for Teachers to Accelerate Monarch Recovery”, implemented with the Sand County Foundation (SCF), an MJV partner organization. In 2018, MJV kicked off widespread implementation of the IMMP Program, a national initiative to monitor monarch populations and habitat.  Additionally, with financial support from MBF, MJV supported SCF and Earth Partnership at the University of Wisconsin to develop the Pollinator Habitat Curriculum Guide released in 2018. The guide aligns with Common Core and Next Generation Science standards, and provides activities for establishing, managing, and monitoring prairie habitat for monarch butterflies, other insect pollinators and grassland birds.

Wendy Caldwell, Monarch Joint Venture Director said it best, “From citizen science to habitat education resources for teachers, MBF’s support is making a difference for monarchs.”

2017

Field Guide Workshops

On December 14, 2017, MBF Consultant Ek del Val de Gortari, along with herpetologist, Jonatan Torres were in El Rosario, to carry out the second workshop for tourist guides. Ek and Jonatan invited 30 people from the community involved in the sanctuary and those responsible for the horses that take tourists. They both explained that the purpose of the field guides is to learn about the immense biodiversity in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve and share it with visitors.

The tour guides looked for the species they knew and recognized them. They were interested in the amphibian and reptile guides since there are a lot of myths and beliefs around them and they were surprised to discover that most snakes in the Reserve are not poisonous and that the fake scorpion (Barisia imbricata) is also harmless. Jonatan talked with the personnel, answering all their questions, and pointing out the characteristic features of each group of species. Next on the MBF Agenda is to translate the guides into English for foreign visitors!

        

At the workshop viewing the field guides

Eco-tourism Workshops

During the 2016-2017 overwintering season, Eneida Montesinos, along with Eco Monarca and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) México held workshops on the biology and conservation of overwintering monarch and their habitat in México in five local communities. A total of 189 men and 105 women employed as tour guides participated in the workshops. Topics included monarch biology, migration and overwintering as well as conservation issues. Participants engaged in different games, activities and role-playing and made monarch handicrafts, migration maps and presentations. The tour guides received a booklet with information of the topics covered in the workshops to be able to use them as a reference during the tours.

Additionally, 485 students from six local elementary and high schools participated in the Third Monarch Butterfly Environmental Education Festival. The festival included conferences and workshops about the monarch butterfly and the environment in general and cultural activities organized by several local educational institutions.

Eneida with workshop participants

2016 

Field Guide Workshops

Dr. Ek del Val de Gortari, MBF adviser, and her colleagues completed field guides for the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve. The guides will provide information to help visitors identify the most common species of butterflies, plants, birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles in the region (click on each category to see the guides). Felipe Martinez, Director of the MBBR, Ek and plant experts, Dr. Guillermo Ibarra, and M.S. Guadalupe Cornejo, as well as reptile expert, Biol. Jonatan Torres, visited the El Rosario community to lead a workshop on how to best use the field guides. El Rosario has one of the largest butterfly colonies so naturally, the team started there. A total of 20 community members, including 4 tourist guides attended the workshop which involved a walk through the forest where participants identified plants and butterflies using the field guides. Ek and her colleagues distributed 2,500 guides (500 of each category: butterflies, plants, birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians). The workshops will continue until the end of the month and English versions of the guides are planned for 2017. MBF is proud to be part of this outreach effort that will help share knowledge and information with local communities and visitors to the Reserve. Ek will work on the English versions in 2017.

Mural in Donaciano Ojeda Indigenous Community

Last year, the Mazahua Indigenous Community of Donaciano Ojeda approached MBF and asked for support for a community-building project that involved painting a mural in the communal house they all share. The goal was to paint a mural that shows the relationship of the community to the forest and the monarch butterfly. The community owns almost 700 hectares in the core zone and 1,300 in the buffer zone. Before starting the mural, the community gathered and discussed their accomplishments and what they wanted to include in the mural. Among the most relevant accomplishments include no illegal logging for 18 to 20 years, maintaining 80% of their forest cover in 600 hectares of the core zone and the ability to conserve water wisely making it available to the entire community. The community discussed their history and identified important places and things to include in the mural such as the primary mountain ranges and watersheds, the main church, wildlife (coyotes, deer, rabbits, and squirrels), their traditional attire among others. Monarchs are not only beautiful, but they serve to unite communities in common projects that bring joy and happiness to all!

Monarch Fund Brochures

MBF supported the Monarch Fund in their efforts to inform landowners about the benefits provided by the Fund and coming from the National Forest Commission. Communities signed agreements with both organizations to conserve their forests and will get payments for the environmental services their forests provide. The agreements only apply to the forests within the core zone and payments are given to communities that maintain a conserved core zone. The health of the of the forest cover is determined by the yearly monitoring performed by WWF.

2015

Field Guides

Dr. Ek Del Val Gortari, MBF adviser and her colleagues, are developing field guides for the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve to provide information that will help visitors identify the most common species of butterflies, plants, birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles. They are developing a brochure for each group with illustrations or photographs, including basic information about the habitats of the different species. The end product will be laminated field guides of the different groups of species which will be useful to promote knowledge of local biodiversity beyond the monarch butterfly and consequently promote forest conservation. The National Commission for Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity (CONABIO) is also providing information and will make reprints available when they are required. Once the guides are completed, Ek and her colleagues will hold workshops with forest rangers and tourist guides in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve.

Documentation Center

As part of the “Red Monarca” (Monarch Network), MBF is pleased to support Fundación Razonatura in their proposal to “Develop an Online Documentation Center of the Monarch Butterfly Region.” This project will develop a digital platform to organize and classify information related to the MBBR and make it accessible to interested parties and society as a whole. Their goal is to have a documentation center hosted in the Monarch Network’s’ website with searches and bibliography about projects, research and general information about the MBBR. They will compile and classify the information received from different sources that make up the Monarch Network such as academia and non-profits, and institutional public information (CONANP, CONAGUA, CONABIO, etc.), media (newspapers, magazines, books, etc.)

2014

Eco-tourism Workshops

Eneida Montesinos, who leads MBF’s eco-tourism workshops, held a 2-day workshop at San Mateo Almomoloa, in the State of Mexico in September 27 and 28. Forty people from the Piedra Herrada Community completed the workshop about monarch biology, migration, conservation, and best practices as tour guides including common English phrases to welcome tourists.  Guest speakers included Eduardo Rendón from WWF Mexico who discussed the decline in last year’s monarch population as well as Rocío Treviño from Correo Real, a citizen science project that monitors the monarch migration in Northern Mexico.

Environmental Education and Monitoring Workshops

This year MBF awarded a grant to Geovida, a local non-profit that carries out workshops in the “Bosque Escuela” (Forest School) Educational Center located in the Emiliano Zapata Ejido in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve’s buffer zone. During October Geovida held several environmental education workshops and monitoring activities for 60 sixth grade students in the Amado Nervo Elementary School in Ocampo, Michoacán. Collaborating with environmental promoters from local communities and experts, workshops included activities in the school’s classroom as well as in the field.  Among the topics included in the workshops were the UN’s Earth Charter Initiative, caring for the forest and the watersheds and the monarch butterfly’s migratory cycle. Children participated in diverse activities such as listening to lectures, drawing, watching videos, singing Lucas Miller’s (the singing zoologist) “Going Down to Mexico” (Spanish Version), planting medicinal plants, measuring tree diameters, among others. Click here to see photos of all the activities.

Educational Activities in Northern Mexico

With support from MBF and the Government of the State of Tamaulipas and the Urban Development and Environment Ministry of Tamaulipas, Pronatura Noreste, a local non-profit, carried out environmental education activities in four elementary schools in Jaumave (part of the monarch’s migratory route) during February-June, 2014.  One thousand drawing booklets, a puzzle about the monarch butterfly’s life cycle and 500 posters describing different phases of the monarch’s life-cycle, their migration, the threats they face and recommendations on how to protect them were printed with funds provided by MBF. Personnel from the Ministry gave 44 Power Point presentations about the monarch’s biology, their migratory route and their flight through Jaumave to 1,216 students and 49 teachers carried out different educational activities.  Everyone participated with enthusiasm as we can see in the images below. Pronatura will repeat this process in 2015 with seven smaller schools with 274 students.

2013

Eco-tourism Workshops

In June 2013 Eneida Montesinos, who leads MBF’s eco-tourism workshops conducted an evaluation of her 2012 workshops described below. She asked participants for their feedback and we are happy to report that the results were very positive.  Participants rated her workshops highly and stated that they learned a lot of information that they will be able to share with tourists and other members of their communities.  Participants’ favorite activities were the games, learning about monarchs, and interacting with their classmates. We see the same choices in workshops in the U.S.

2012

Eco-tourism Workshops

During October and November 2012 MBF collaborator, Eneida Montesinos held 6 three-day workshops to train eco-tourism guides in 6 communities within the Monarch Butterfly Reserve. As she was concluding her workshops she was approached by the Director of the Reserve who asked her if she was available to give a workshop to schoolchildren as part of the XXI Monarch Butterfly Festival. In collaboration with WWF and the Reserve Eneida gave one workshop which turned out to be a total success. Excited kids and teachers requested more workshops and Eneida ended up giving 6 additional workshops with a total participation of 950 kids! Even moms got excited and fifteen of them attended the workshop at Senguio. The smallest workshop had 80 kids and the largest one 250, averaging around 150 per workshop. This was an exciting twist of events which allowed Eneida to expand her workshops to schoolchildren! Lots of the material she uses to train guides in monarch biology was easily accessible to children.

MBF is excited to support these workshops which are not only engaging kids, school teachers and moms but are strengthening our relationships with WWF, the Reserve, and the local communities.

Alternare Workshops

In addition to the eco-tourism and children’s workshops, MBF funded and participated in a workshop with members of four indigenous communities held on June 24, 2012, at Alternare’s Training Center. This workshop was geared to prepare communities for the 2012 reforestation season and was a result of a collaborative effort between MBF, Alternare, CIGA (UNAM’s Center for Environmental Geography Research Center), CIECO (UNAM´s Center for Ecosystems Research), and volunteers from HSBC (Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) bank. MBF’s forestry advisor, Dr. Diego Pérez-Salicrup, conducted the workshop with help from our team member, Dr. Pablo Jaramillo.

Community members were divided into three working groups that were chaired by the HSBC volunteers. Each group was able to identify specific issues they wanted to address guided by topics suggested by Dr. Pérez-Salicrup. Workshop participants have carried out reforestation projects in the past and their willingness to share their knowledge and experience generated lively and informed discussions.

Discussions focused on three main topics:

1. Why reforest?
2. Challenges of reforestation planning, and
3. Measuring seedlings.

The three groups had different motivations to reforest. One group explained that they use pine from the buffer zones to build houses and firewood, selling the remainder as railroad ties. They reforest former agricultural areas to harvest trees. Another group was concerned about increasing and securing their water resources for themselves and future generations. Traditionally, reforestation projects have been carried out in agricultural areas, but thanks to the workshop, community members realized the potential of these areas for forest recovery which could offer long-term financial benefits aimed at improvement of their short- and mid-term livelihoods.

The workshop ended with training on the appropriate techniques to measure seedlings. Participants measured seedlings from four different species, reported their results, and entered their findings into a computer program that allowed them to visualize the data graphically. They learned the importance of accurate measurements, and are now able to determine annual growth and survival rates of trees that they plant.

The workshop increased awareness among participants and improved their reforestation skills, but most importantly it corroborated MBF’s belief in the strength of sharing knowledge and collaborating with local people, academics, volunteers and organizations. Community members and academics speak the same jargon now and everyone understands what is meant by environmental services, watershed management, forest management and sustainability. These collaborations also break barriers between “city-folk” and “country-folk”, as we witnessed with the HSBC volunteers from Mexico City. The campesinos and the bank volunteers are now aware that keeping the forest ecosystem healthy is beneficial for everyone, not just people living in the countryside.

2011

Eco-tourism Workshops

During November 2011 MBF conducted six separate three-day workshops in the states of México and Michoacán. Each workshop was tailored to the needs of a specific community, or Ejido, and for the most part, held in the community to make it easier for people to attend. A total of 139 men and women participated in the November workshops.

Education and Outreach, How We Started…

In a project partially funded by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, we established a collaboration with Mexican scientists and educators to develop an environmental education program appropriate for use in schools attended by the families in and near the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve. The program includes materials written in Spanish, included a book of monarch-related curriculum lessons, a book on monarch biology, and laminated cards illustrating the monarch’s annual migratory cycle.

We conducted five educational workshops for tourist guides from communities near the Sierra Chincua, Cerro Pelón, Herrada, Rosario and Popocatepetl monarch colonies in 2006-2009. This cooperative effort included WWF-Mexico, Biocenosis, UNAM, Profauna, Ecosport Mexico and the University of Minnesota.