Office of Sustainability

The flowers of the Dawson College Ecological Peace Garden are part of a nectar corridor for monarchs flying over Montreal. College students and staff have been rearing caterpillars, caring for chrysalis and tagging the newly-merged monarch butterflies in order to increase the Monarch population. Before releasing the monarch, participants record the tag code and local information, entering the data into a database. As the monarch travels from the Peace Garden to its winter destination outside of Mexico City, volunteers across the US and Mexico capture and release the butterflies looking for tagging information that helps track their journey south. The Monarch Butterfly Tagging Project creates an energy of excitement and solidarity as faculty, staff and students learn to become environmental stewards.