Gualala Arts Promoting public interest and participation in the arts since 1961
The Gualala Arts Lecture Series will host a Western Monarch Butterfly Panel Discussion on Friday, May 1 at 5 p.m., offering the community an opportunity to learn more about the dramatic decline of the western monarch population and what can be done to help protect this iconic species. The event is $5 at the door.
The discussion accompanies photographer Elizabeth Weber’s Dolphin Gallery Exhibit There Once Were Millions, which documents the monarch’s precipitous 95 percent population drop since the 1980s. The panel brings together leading voices in conservation, science, and extraordinary photography, each working to safeguard the monarch’s migration and habitat.
Panelists include Mia Monroe, cofounder and volunteer coordinator of the Western Monarch Count; Audrey Fusco, restoration ecologist; Ole Schell, filmmaker and founder of the West Marin Monarch Sanctuary; and Elizabeth Weber, whose photographic work highlights both the fragility and resilience of the species.
The program will also feature a short film by Schell, chronicling efforts to create monarch habitat on his family’s cattle ranch.
The evening aims to give attendees practical insight into monarch conservation and inspire local action to support the species’ recovery.