A white net bounced around a field of goldenrod outside the Hauser Nature Center in the Poconos.
Emily Tramontano held its handle. At times, you could just see the top of her head as she searched for Monarch butterflies amongst the mustard-yellow flowers in the center’s large pollinator garden.
Tramontano is a land steward with the Nature Conservancy (TNC). The global environmental nonprofit operates the nature center and Long Pond Preserve in Long Pond. During a very late summer sunny Friday, Tramontano and other TNC staff were joined by Pocono Mountain West High School’s Environmental Club to search for the butterflies to document them for the Monarch Watch Program.
"In five months, when somebody recaptures this monarch in Mexico or in central South America, they will know exactly that it came from Hauser Nature Center," said Tramontano.
The civilian science project tracks the butterfly’s migration routes. The program was started by Dr. Orley "Chip" Taylor in 1992. He’s a professor emeritus from the University of Kansas.
Monarch migration was once a mystery, said Tramontano.
“So he [Taylor] decided to try to figure out what are the criteria and metrics involved that make these migration trips successful, things like gender, size, where they started, time of year, temperature, all of these things," she said. "And through his program, we were able, as a collective, were able to actually track migration.”
Monarch migrations are slowly being changed because of development and environmental factors, like climate change, she said.
To help prepare for that, outside the Hauser Nature Center is a large pollinator garden and meadow habitat.
"It's kind of like a build a home and they will come," she said. “The Poconos have always been on that route, and again, we just kind of want to amplify the resources that they need.”
The group caught about four monarchs.
Pat McElhenny, Pennsylvania stewardship manager for TNC, and Tramontano delicately removed the butterflies from the net. Next they placed a white circular sticker on the insect’s wing. They wrote down the sticker’s number and sent the monarch on its way.
Before they went in search of monarchs, Tramontano had the students search for seeds in the garden.
She asked them to be mindful as they stepped into the garden.
"We don't want to crush everything. So just, you know, be fragile, be a butterfly," she said.
The students were able to take the seeds home for their own pollinator gardens. But whatever they didn’t take, TNC planned to use for active restoration projects on other preserves.
Growing in the garden are three different types of milkweed, a butterfly standard.
Monarchs only lay eggs on milkweed. When caterpillars are in their larva phase they can only eat milkweed.
“They can eat an entire milkweed leaf in less than five minutes, so they chow down," said Tramontano.
Tramontano swiped her hand up a tall, skinny brown plant.
“This is Indian grass," she said. "You know it's ready to harvest when you swoop and seeds come out."
The Nature Conservancy's work to protect and track the Monarchs is beneficial to the greater ecosystem, said Tramontano — butterflies are important pollinators.
"They are basically responsible for the next generation of growth in vegetation," she said.
It's not just plants they impact but also the meat and dairy industry — cows eat the plants that are pollinated by the butterflies.
“They do the work for us, for us to have these plants and then feed other animals up the food chain," she said. "So it kind of all starts with the insects ... it gets scary when you see population declines like that. But thankfully, there is a bunch of conservation based organizations, like the Nature Conservancy that really focus on habitat restoration and creating these hot spots."
