Several members of the Department of Entomology’s graduate students and postdoctoral research associates recently joined the Texas A&M Garden Club and other local organizations during a recent wildflower seed planting event at Richard Carter Park in College Station with the A&M Garden Club on Saturday, October 21.
The group also included members of the A&M Garden Club, the local Daughters of the American Revolution, Butterflies in the Brazos, City of College Station, Keep Brazos Beautiful. During the morning, they planted seeds throughout the park to promote habitat that is friendly to both monarchs and other native butterflies.
EGSO member Chloë Hawkings said this event was a way for the grad students to join in on helping to raise awareness about butterflies and preservation, as well as work with local officials to implement policies to help with the efforts of preserving monarchs and other butterfly species.
Hawkings heard about the planting after speaking with members of the club and the City of College Station Parks and loved that the event allowed the organization to provide good habitat for the monarchs, as well as bring awareness to the conservation of our native and migrating butterflies that travel through the area.
“I thought this was a great opportunity for our department to be actively involved with the conservation efforts of the monarch butterfly,” she said. “The garden club are wonderful people, and we had a fun time helping them.”
Postdoctoral research associate Travis Calkins was also planting with the group and said that he enjoyed helping out and loved the fact that what he was doing was helping to preserve monarchs.
“Planting wildflower seeds for the monarch butterflies was an enjoyable morning working with the Garden Club to ensure a stopping point for the monarchs on their route to Mexico,” he said. “It is especially rewarding to be a part of the solution for the continued survival of these amazing animals by combating the loss of their habitat through human development. I genuinely look forward to continuing to help with this project in the future.”