The Monarch Grove Sanctuary is an urban nature preserve in

Pacific Grove, California Pacific Grove is a city situated on the southern edge of Monterey Bay, on the Central Coast of California. Located in Monterey County, the city had a population of 15,090 at the 2020 census. Pacific Grove is a popular tourist destination on ...

. It protects the

monarch butterflies The monarch butterfly or simply monarch (''Danaus plexippus'') is a milkweed butterfly (subfamily Danainae) in the family Nymphalidae. Other common names, depending on region, include milkweed, common tiger, wanderer, and black-veined brown. ...

that winter in Pacific Grove arriving in October. It is maintained by a volunteer crew. About 12–16,000 butterflies stayed at the sanctuary during the 2022-23 winter, making it the fourth largest of its type in California.

History

The land on which the sanctuary exists was first owned by Del Monte Hotel Management. It was then purchased by a local woman named Edna Dively to operate the Butterfly Grove Inn, which is still in operation. When plans for land development were made, local nature group leaders, led by Ro Vaccaro, stepped up to stop it from happening. Pacific Grove's citizens voted to create a tax to establish the sanctuary, in 1990, as a part of Measure G, City of Pacific Grove Butterfly Habitat and Bond Measure. The city was able to collaborate with the

California Department of Fish and Wildlife The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), formerly known as the California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG), is an American state agency under the California Natural Resources Agency. The Department of Fish and Wildlife manages ...

to go through with the purchase of the land, finalizing the acquisition in 1992. In 2004, a branch above the parking lot fell on Anne Dickinson Thomas, killing her. Her family sued for wrongful death against the city in 2006.

Description

Monarchs that winter at Monarch Grove Sanctuary live up to six months after reaching adulthood, in opposition to most other monarchs, which only live for four to five weeks. Touching the butterflies will result in a $1000 fine. The sanctuary contains pine, cypress, oaks,

coast redwood ''Sequoia sempervirens'' ()''Sunset Western Garden Book,'' 1995: 606–607 is the sole living species of the genus '' Sequoia'' in the cypress family Cupressaceae (formerly treated in Taxodiaceae). Common names include coast redwood, coast ...

, and eucalyptus trees. Planet species include

Monterey pine ''Pinus radiata'' (synonym (taxonomy), syn. ''Pinus insignis''), the Monterey pine, insignis pine or radiata pine, is a species of pine native to the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California and Mexico (on Guadalupe Island and Ced ...

and

Monterey cypress ''Hesperocyparis macrocarpa'' also known as ''Cupressus macrocarpa'', or the Monterey cypress is a coniferous tree, and is one of several species of cypress trees native to California. The Monterey cypress is found naturally only on the Centr ...

. Most of the monarchs are clustered around a "very dense" group of blue gum eucalyptus trees planted in 1917.

References

{{reflist 1992 establishments in California Butterfly organizations Nature conservation in the United States Pacific Grove, California