Girl Scouts Tackle Issue of Decline of Popular Butterfly

ALBANY, NY (08/25/2014)(readMedia)-- Since October 15, 2013, committed Cadette Girl Scouts (girls grades 6-8) from Girl Scouts of Northeastern New York (GSNENY) have been working on the global issue of the declining Monarch Butterfly population with the assistance of Carol Ann Margolis, education coordinator of the Albany Heritage Area Visitors Center. The goal of these young women was to create a certified urban Monarch Waystation garden through Monarch Watch in association with the University of Kansas. Certain conditions had to be met for the garden to be certified: non-pesticide & herbicide usage, specific plants included, and regular upkeep to prevent invasive species. As part of their experience, the girls are participating in a tagging event on August 29, 2014 at 10:00 AM at GSNENY's Albany Service Center, 8 Mountain View Avenue in Albany, where the garden is located. Carol Ann will be showing the girls how to successfully tag monarch butterflies and how to register their monarch sightings with Journey North and the data collection sheet for Monarch Watch. She has been involved with tagging monarch butterflies since the late 1990's and in 2001, one of the butterflies she tagged was found in Mexico, having successfully journeyed 1873 miles. Netting, tagging and releasing Monarchs will aid in garnering valuable information on the migration patterns of Monarchs on their way to Mexico. Along with the establishment of the Monarch Waystation, these are steps toward helping the declining Monarch Butterfly population.

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About Girl Scouts of Northeastern New York:

Girl Scouts is the largest girl-serving organization in the U.S. and is focused on leadership development for girls grades K-12. Celebrating 102 years of building girls of courage, confidence and character to make the world a better place, Girl Scouts of Northeastern New York serves 11,000 girls and 5,000 volunteers throughout 15 counties: Albany, Clinton, Columbia, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Greene, Hamilton, Montgomery, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Schoharie, Warren & Washington. Offices are located in Albany, Halfmoon, Queensbury and Plattsburgh. For more information: GSNENY.ORG or (518) 489-8110.