ARIZONA STATE PARKS: For Immediate Release
Managing and conserving Arizona’s natural, cultural and recreational resources for the benefit of the people, both in our Parks and through our Partners. FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Ellen Bilbrey at (602) 542-1996 or (602) 228-8518, or Monica Enriquez at (602) 542-6997. Contact by Email: pio(at)azstateparks.gov

Volunteers Needed to Tag Monarch Butterflies through Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park

(Phoenix, Arizona - July 14, 2008) - Chris Kline, education coordinator for Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park, is seeking volunteers to help search for monarch butterflies during offsite research trips. The program objective is to capture, tag and release adults while exploring the edges of the state, and learn more about the travel corridors these insects use.

"Four years ago our small cadre of Arizona State Parks volunteers began sticking adhesive tags on the hind wings of monarch butterflies," said Kline. "We then released them in hopes of sighting and recovering, and then we began developing a mapping project to better understand the delicate insects' migration. More than 3,000 marked monarchs later, the most far-flung recoveries have come back from Mexico City."

Arizona Monarch Field Trip dates include Jacob's Lake, August 12-15; Springerville, August 16; Canelo Hills, August 30 and September 14; Hereford, September 6; Blue River, October 2-4; Hualapai Mountains, October 15-17; Perkinsville, October 18; and Sonoita, November 1. Participants are responsible for their own travel arrangements.

The Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Parks program is one of the few monarch butterfly tagging projects in the United States. Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park is located three miles west of Superior on U.S. 60.

For more details about the 2008 monarch research trips, call Chris Kline at 520-689-2723 or click www.btarboretum.org.

Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park
323 acres of plants, trees and animal communities
3,200 different desert plants
230 bird species observed through the years
three miles of paths and trails

For information about Arizona State Parks call (602) 542-4174 (outside of the Phoenix metro area call toll-free (800) 285-3703) or visit the website at www.azstateparks.com.

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Learn more about Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park

link to this page:
http://azstateparks.com/press/2008/PR_07-15-08.html

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