Bills announced at news conference at Butterfly Gardens

By Charlie Mitchell

Gary Goyke, president of Citizens for a Scenic Wisconsin, opened the conference and said that 14 state representatives and 5 senators have signed on as co-authors of two bills crafted to make the monarch butterfly the official Wisconsin state butterfly. Supporters hope that the publicity brought by the designation will create awareness of the monarch’s endangered status and boost support for conservation of the monarch’s habitat.

Butterfly Gardens was founded in Appleton as a preserve to boost the monarch population and as an observatory where people can be among the butterflies and see them up close. The news conference began about 11:00am on July 14 with TV cameras from four local stations and 34 people in attendance, including most of the Citizens for a Scenic Wisconsin board members.

Goyke introduced Jack Voight, owner of Butterfly Gardens, who made a strong case for protecting the butterflies. Voight said that monarchs are not only beautiful, but are pollinators of fruits and vegetables, and they have suffered a 90% population decline in recent decades.

Representative Paul Tittl (R – Manitowoc), primary Assembly author of the bills, enlarged on Voight’s case. Everybody loves monarchs, Tittl said. They add to people’s enjoyment of the outdoors. Tittl asked everybody to contact their legislators to support bills AB322 and SB334.

City of Appleton Alder Denise Fenton expressed her support for the bills. The conference ended about 11:30.

Monarchs migrate north from Mexico and into Wisconsin in the summer. They breed in Wisconsin and return to Mexico in the fall. Butterflies have been suffering from loss of habitat, insecticide use, and destruction of milkweed that they feed on.

You can help monarchs by planting milkweed in your yard.