Join Val Chaney for an evening learning about monarch butterfly migration, her visit to the monarch overwintering site in Mexico, and efforts to help the monarchs!

PVAS Host: Val Chaney

Free and open to the public. All ages are welcome, though youth must be accompanied by an adult. Registration is not required

PVMN Continuing Education Credit Eligible

Monarch butterflies are well known for their beauty and impressive life cycle that inspires those who can capture these miraculous life stages. The remarkable 3,000-mile journey from the northeastern U.S. and Canada to their ancestral wintering grounds of central Mexico makes this migration one of the world’s most astounding natural events. However, monarch butterflies are declining in numbers, and we are in jeopardy of losing this phenomenon of a multigenerational migration. Habitat loss is a major factor here in the U.S. and in their central Mexico overwintering sight. Come learn about monarchs and how you can help!

In February 2024 Valerie visited the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Central Mexico. She traveled with a small group of monarch educators and enthusiasts with Monarch Joint Venture. Natural Habitat Adventures provided the expedition leaders and expert naturalist guides, taking the group to Angangueo into El Rosario Sanctuary and Chincua Sanctuary. Traveling into these sanctuaries by horseback, they were able to witness tens of millions of monarch butterflies covering the oyamel fir trees!

Efforts to preserve this fragile forest ecosystem are the key to the monarchs’ survival. Natural Habitat Adventures partners with the World Wildlife Fund which assists local communities to protect the butterflies’ habitat. These trips help demonstrate that ecotourism can be a more viable and sustainable source of economic sustenance than logging.

Valerie recommends watching this video about the endangered migration by Natural Habitat Adventures and she is looking forward to sharing more information, pictures, and videos during this presentation!

• Walking Distance: Little to no walking.
• Exposure: This is an indoor program.
• Restroom: Indoor, flushing restrooms will be available.
• Parking/Where to Meet: Park in the lot in front of the building at 109 War Memorial Drive in Berkeley Springs (the old War Memorial Hospital). As you pull in, Blue Ridge will be on the left end of the building.

About Val:

Valerie Chaney is currently the Park Naturalist/Park Activities Coordinator at Cacapon Resort State Park in Berkley Springs, WV. She is a West Virginia native of Fort Ashby, located in Mineral County. She has been with West Virginia State Parks since 2018, managing the park’s nature center and developing activities, youth programs, guided hikes, and interpretive programs for all ages. As a park naturalist, she covers a wide range of environmental topics, but monarch butterfly conservation has taken the lead. The original mowed lawn surrounding the nature center has transformed over the years into a beautiful oasis of native plants for all pollinators and as an official monarch waystation by Monarch Watch. Working with volunteer groups, monarch conservation groups, and local community groups has made this all possible. She has received grants to design and purchase plants for the monarch way station and interpretive signs. (Blue Ridge Wild Ones, The Monarch Alliance, Eastern West Virgina Community Foundation) The monarch waystation has become an outdoor classroom for all to see varieties of milkweed, monarchs in all life stages, helping our visitors discover how they can make a difference. This year was our most successful year yet of raising monarchs and tagging them on site with visitors and with local Morgan County Schools.