Closing at both Sanctuaries — Symbolic Monarch Migration

THE VISIT

It has been extremely important to have visited that large quantity of students with our conservation lessons at “El Rosario” Sanctuary surroundings. Now, we go directly to the area around “Sierra Chicua” Sanctuary, where we have managed to address an additional and also very important group of children with whom your last Symbolic Monarchs shall be delivered and where our last visits this season shall be closing already.

Again, parents and church ministers at these small locations considered that it was very important that local children received their lesson on conservation as they do every single year; The local Ejidatario’s meeting room and the local chapel have been opened to the program and its local audience.

Now we can say that the “Benefits of Trees” lessons have been taken to the most important population of students and their Ejidatario families whose main living depends on the conservation of Monarchs’ overwintering habitat, both for the Monarch butterflies themselves as well as for them and their own future as local families.

So, our last tour with the Symbolic Migration is eagerly awaited by these children from “Sierra Chincua”!.

Every possible aspect on Monarchs life-cycle, besides our “Benefits of Trees” topic is being approached, as usual, starting with our first group, from whom, because of their ages, -3rd and 4th elementary graders-, these were their reactions:

“Many people get confused so easily and think that the Monarchs arriving every season to overwinter in our Oyamel forests are directly the siblings of the Monarchs from the previous season!... who could imagine that these Monarchs still now in our Oyamel forests are great-great- grand-children to the ones overwintering right here last season, and that the ones arriving next fall will be the great-great-grandchildren to these which have now started their massive leaving?”, -This was one of the most miraculous facts to hightlight for students in this group-.

“We could have never imagined that trees could give us so many things, so much protection to us humans, not only to animals and plants. On the other side, it is thanks to one of our tree species in our forests that Monarchs have chosen our region to overwinter here for maybe thousands of years. Our impressive Oyamel trees are their favorite!” -one of the oldest boys expressed-.

Besides, we know from many people that our forests are particulary special because of the large size of our trees both in trunk and branches; they say that in other countries in the world, they do not have forests with such impressive trees as we do! Ours is clearly a conífera forest; now we know what conífera trees are, what perennial means” -a few other children completed one another-

So the varied reflections in the group went on until the great moment at receiving their Symbolic Monarchs put in the hands of our Mexican children living at the surroundings of Monarchs overwintering sanctuaries a feeling of sense, identity, prise and responsibility towards their own homeland this day.