No prior experience is required, just a love of nature and some patience! 

 Rushton Woods Preserve is now an official Monarch Waystation on the University of Kansas' international registry! This means that the preserve provides Monarchs with all the necessary milkweed for reproduction, nectar sources for energy during migration and breeding, and shelter.   

We are also certified as a MLMP (Monarch Larva Monitoring Project) site through the University of Minnesota; this is one of the major citizen science projects that contribute to Monarch conservation.     

 As a MLMP site, we need volunteers to help us monitor our milkweed patch for Monarch larvae every week or at least every other week throughout the breeding season (through September).      

Also, now that migration is underway (September through mid-October), we could use volunteers to tag the migrant monarchs passing through... if you can catch them!   We have 50 monarch tags (tiny stickers that are gently stuck onto the hindwings) issued to us from the University of Kansas' Monarch Watch.

These magnificent butterflies are declining mainly as a result of habitat loss, excessive mowing, and widespread use of herbicides by farmers.      

Monarch butterflies need our help, so the data that scientists gather from such citizen science projects is very important to monarch conservation.     

 Email Blake Goll  or call 610.353.2562 ext. 20 if you are interested.