Hillsboro Woman's Club learns about monarch butterflies at March meeting
Lisa Keys was the guest speaker for the March meeting of the Hillsboro Woman’s Club. Keys presented a fascinating and informative program, “The Plight of the Monarch Butterfly,” an insect which is close to becoming extinct.
Keys said that three countries – Mexico, Canada and the United States – are involved in researching and protecting these butterflies.
Butterflies lay their eggs on the undersides of leaves of milkweed plants. Those plants are now scarce, due to spraying and mowing of ditches and roadsides and illicit logging, which destroys the insects’ wintering grounds. The U.S. Division of Fish and Wildlife has been awarded a $3.5 million grant to study the causes and possible corrections of the problem.
Monarchs complete a four-part life cycle: egg, caterpillar, pupa and adult. The eggs soon hatch into tiny caterpillars, who eat the milkweed foliage and shortly form a beautiful chrysalis, which in just a few weeks becomes an adult butterfly.
[[In-content Ad]]
Keys raises monarchs in captivity and “tags” each of them before release. Tagging results show that it takes three or four generations of monarchs to travel from Mexico to northern Canada. The ones hatched in Canada are called “super butterflies.”
Keys concluded by dispensing packets of milkweed seeds with instructions to keep them moist between paper towels, enclosed in plastic bags in the refrigerator and to plant them in full sun after all danger of frost has passed. She cautioned club members to keep the seeds moist as they grow to be rewarded with many beautiful butterflies.
Following the program, which was held at the Hillsboro Masonic Temple, a delicious luncheon was served by caterer Avery Elliott.
Club president Mary Todd Hardeman made several announcements, including next year’s officers, which will be Helen Ford, president; Pauline Cameron, vice president; Gretchen Huffman, secretary; and Betty Ann Walker, treasurer.
Cameron then presented a touching tribute to recently deceased member Gale Dukes and cited her for her many contributions to Hillsboro and Southern State Community College, where her husband, Lawrence Dukes, served as president for several years.
— Gretchen Huffman, Hillsboro Woman’s Club