AWC to host butterfly seminar
Calling all butterfly aficionados!
A butterfly seminar will be held at Arizona Western College on Thursday and is open to the public.
Gail Morris, from the Southwest Monarch Watch, will present a monarch butterfly conservation seminar from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. in the AS Building, Room 105 on AWC's main campus, Avenue 8E in Yuma.
Morris will present information to participants about how they create a monarch butterfly habitat in their yards and also about monarch biology and conservation in Arizona.
She will also discuss monarch migration patterns through Arizona, California and Mexico.
Attendees can sign up to be citizen scientists to record monarch sightings in the Yuma area. Those present will also have an opportunity to tour AWC's newly created, outdoor monarch butterfly garden.
Ted Martinez, AWC professor of biology, said the garden was created earlier this year when students began growing 2,500 milkweed plants in the campus greenhouse. They later transplanted the plants to a nearby AWC agriculture field to create the butterfly garden where monarchs traveling from Mexico can feed on the milkweed nectar and lay eggs.
For more information, contact Martinez at Ted.Martinez@azwestern.edu or 344-7705.
Sarah Womer can be reached at swomer@yumasun.com or 539-6858. Find her on Facebook at Facebook.com/YSSarahWomer or on Twitter at @YSSarahWomer.
