Story reached the L.A. Times
Monarch fans are pitching in to bring more trees to the the butterfly trees. Send your donation to the Pacific Grove Chamber of Commerce, marked “Monarch Habitat Trees.” PO BOX 167, Pacific Grove 93950, 584 Central Avenue, Pacific Grove, CA 93950
No trees, no butterflies. Guess this will have to do:
At a City Council meeting last week, Mayor Carmelita Garcia apologized for the city’s mismanagement of the tree cutting, calling it “a horrible mistake.” In the audience, people who had come to hear about emergency sanctuary repair wore toy butterfly antennae that bobbed up and down as the mayor spoke.
With the first monarchs due in about a month, volunteers have been scrambling for potted trees that can serve as makeshift butterfly shelter throughout the 2 1/2-acre sanctuary. “We’re hoping and praying,” said Moe Ammar, president of the Chamber of Commerce that serves the picturesque, sometimes fogbound town of Victorian homes.
“People who follow the monarchs come from all over the world,” Ammar said. “When we get calls asking if the butterflies have arrived, we have to be honest.”