Become a fan of The Roar of the Monarchs
February 28-March 7
Deep in the oyamel fir forests of Michoacán, Mexico, there is a silent beginning to an amazing show. At the end of October, right around Day of the Dead, the monarch butterflies from all across eastern North America begin to arrive. First a handful of butterflies arrive, then thousands and tens of thousands of them. Slowly a quiet blanket of butterflies forms on the trees – covering them so thickly that people in the area feared they would suffocate the forest. At one time more than one billion butterflies would light in these forests to spend the winter.
The butterflies in these forest are the Eastern population of monarch butterfly – during late summer butterflies from as far North as Canada begin a journey of as much as 3,000 miles to Mexico. There they will spend the winter in enormous but very still layers of butterfly upon butterfly. When the winter is over and the sun marks true spring by its position in the sky the butterflies will begin to leave and start the northward journey. They will not complete this journey. They will lay eggs and die and their offspring will continue the journey. This journey north will take up to four generations of butterflies before the annual cycle once again drives them to Mexico.
Today, the numbers of over‐wintering butterflies are somewhat lower. Occasional
die‐offs – sadly as many as 250 million butterflies in one night – have begun to
slowly take a toll on this unprecedented biological phenomenon. Die‐offs are directly
related to destruction of the insulating capabilities of the forest due to illegal logging
and the harvest of wood for fuel. Numbers are now closer to a total of 750 million
butterflies spending the winter – but still an incredible show. This show is being
eroded by a loss of forest cover, the illegal harvest of trees either by illegal loggers
or subsistence famers collecting wood to cook and to stay warm.
On September 30, 2009, the ECOLIFE Foundation entered into an agreement with California EPA, Climate Action Reserve and the Mexican government to restore these forests to their original glory and to ensure the remarkable magic of butterflies for years to come.
This remarkable show that begins so respectfully and so quietly on the Day of the Dead ends with a repeating series of remarkable roars – the sound of millions of wings taking to the air simultaneously as they greet the warm Spring sun. Filling the air, darkening the sky and leaving behind a forest that their great‐great‐great grandchildren will return to, hoping to find a forest to protect them one more time and allow them to greet Spring with a chorus of life.
Join the ECOLIFE Foundation this Spring and experience the Roar of the Monarchs