Butterfly Gardening: A Case Study [F-19-7]

Insects, including those that pollinate, are essential for life on Earth. This course will suggest steps everyone can take to establish pollinator-friendly gardens in response to human destruction of natural bee and butterfly habitats. It will focus on butterflies and moths, giving insights into their local diversity, behaviors, favorite plants and life cycles. The creation of the Johnsonburg Butterfly Garden will be used as an example.

 Both Ray and Mark Erickson have serious avocational interests in butterfly and moth ecology, having researched the subject since childhood. They each have six decades of experience photographing and documenting some of these groups and their food-plant and host-plant relationships. In 2015, they created the Johnsonburg Butterfly Garden to address the need for nectaring sites at a NJ camp. Examples from these experiences will illustrate how they built and populated the butterfly gardens.

NOTES:  

1) May want a notebook.

2) Visit web pages:

Xerces Society https://xerces.org/pollinator-conservation/

North American Butterfly Association  https://www.naba.org/

The Lepidopterists Society https://www.lepsoc.org/

Cap: 50