The butterflies are returning to Dawson and new employees and employees who have never fostered a butterfly will have priority for adoption.

“We are excited about the return of students and employees to the college grounds,” said Jennifer de Vera of Dawson’s Sustainability Office. “The butterflies are a hopeful symbol of change and new beginnings.”

Dawson employees can fill out an online form to express their interest in temporarily caring for the chrysalises as they eclose into butterflies.

There are 50 pop-up tents that will be distributed with chrysalises and another 60-80 will be in the outdoor butterfly enclosure in the Three Sisters Garden, a rooftop garden just off of Conrod’s in the Upper Atrium. Employees and students are welcome to visit the butterfly enclosure. Contact sustainability@dawsoncollege.qc.ca to request a visit.

Student volunteers to release the monarchs

The new monarch butterflies will be tagged and released into the Peace Garden on campus (near the Wood and Sherbrooke corner). The Sustainabili-team student volunteers are responsible for caring, releasing and tagging the monarchs.

“We will monitor the monarch watch site to see if any of our monarchs are spotted as they make their annual migration to the tops of the Oyumel trees in Mexico,” Jennifer said.

Dawson has been named a Monarch Oasis by Montreal’s Espace pour la vie due to the large amount of milkweed plants on campus. Females only lay their eggs on milkweed and the plant is the only food for the monarch caterpillars.

“We are proud to know that our gardens provide a safe haven for this beautiful species at risk,” Jennifer said.