Monarch Butterfly Release

WVIK and TallgrassQC, in partnership with the Scott County Soil and Water Conservation District, will be hosting a Monarch Butterfy release on Saturday, September 17.

The release will take place at Nahant Marsh Education Center, 4220 Wapello Avenue in Davenport, IA from 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. This free family event is part of the TallgrassQC initiative and will begin with optional hikes around the marsh and educational Monarch activities.

The 200 Monarchs will then be released in two waves, beginning at noon. Guests are welcome to stay until the Education Center closes at 3 p.m. to explore the bird blind, dock, and viewing platform—all accessible on flat terrain. Binoculars will be available for loan as well as guidebooks too.

Forms are available at ScottCountySoilandWater.org to sponsor a Monarch.* Each sponsor will receive a certificate. (Please note: This is a sponsorship program to release the Monarch Butterfly, and actual butterflies will not be received).

Monarchs will already be tagged for the Monarch Watch Citizen Science Program. For more information on this program, visit: http://monarchjointventure.org/get-involved/study-monarchs-citizen-science-opportunities/.

*This is a free public event. You do not need to have sponsored a Monarch to watch the release on September 17.

Release Event supported by: The Singh Family Charitable Giving Fund, Genesis Health System, Burke Cleaners, First Central State Bank, Paragon Commercial Interiors and The North Scott Press.

TallgrassQC is a collaboration to raise the awareness of prairie ecology in the Quad Cities region. During the summer of 2016, TallgrassQC collaborators will be hosting a series of events including the Picturing the Prairie exhibit opening at the Figge Art Museum on May 28, the Nahant Marsh Education Center’s Pollinator Conference at the RiverCenter on June 23-24, regular profiles of prairie restoration efforts throughout our region on WVIK, and a finale butterfly release at the Nahant Marsh Education Center on September 17. Tallgrass QC partners include the Figge Art Museum, Jackson Elementary School in Davenport, the John Deere Foundation, Nahant Marsh, the Quad-City Times, Russell Construction, the Eagle View Group of the Sierra Club, the Joyce and Tony Singh Family Foundation, Uncommon Ground, WQPT, Quad Cities PBS, and WVIK, Quad Cities NPR. For a full listing of TallgrassQC events, visit TallgrassQC.org.