By Karen Melton, Southeastern Pennsylvania Group, Sylvanian Staff
David Sublette, a long-time Sierra Club member in Erie, PA, led an effort last summer to make sure Monarch butterflies migrating through Erie knew they were welcome. With help from a Huplits Wildlife Grant, a section of McClelland Park has been turned into a butterfly garden. The park is nearly 64 acres of woods within the city limits. It offers some trails and a dog park, but is otherwise largely undeveloped. The butterfly garden has been created in phases over a couple of years and offers butterflies and other pollinators a variety of flowering native plants throughout the growing season, including multiple species of milkweed, the only plants that Monarch caterpillars are able to eat.
Although David has already seen an early Monarch this year, most arrive this far north in July as part of their migration to and from the Oyamel Forest in Mexico – some 2,400 miles away. This migration takes place over four generations of the butterfly lifecycle (egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, butterfly) in a calendar year. The generation that is seen in Erie is most likely the third or the fourth. The fourth generation is the one that will make the entire flight back to Mexico for the winter months.
Maintenance and watering of the garden has so far primarily been a one-man effort, but David is hoping to engage other members and organizations to help. The project has had its setbacks--wire fencing and a locked gate became necessary when plants were being dug up and stolen overnight. The fencing has also reduced loss from deer and rabbits.
David has been active with Sierra Club for a number of years, with many spent on the Chapter Executive Committee, but recently he has turned more of his energies toward preserving wilderness, his major concern, along with biodiversity and endangered species. He serves on the Sierra Club’s national wilderness team and reports that the team is having some success getting wilderness designations in western states such as Utah and California. He also hopes to see some small portion of the Allegheny National Forest become designated as wilderness, a process that requires congressional approval. This is one of the most heavily industrialized national forests in the nation, with extensive oil and gas development.
This is one in a series of articles about projects supported by Huplits wildlife grants. The annual grants are awarded and administered by the Sierra Club Allegheny Group with funding provided by the Huplits Foundation for projects involving public education, litigation, land acquisition or research directly focused on protecting PA wildlife, its habitats, and preventing cruelty to animals.