The Rosalynn Carter Butterfly Trail: Connecting History and Nature
Keynote Speaker – Dr. Chip Taylor
Chip Taylor is the Founder and Director of Monarch Watch, as well as a Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Kansas. Trained as an insect ecologist, Chip Taylor has published papers on species assemblages, hybridization, reproductive biology, population dynamics, and plant demographics and pollination. Starting in 1974, Chip Taylor established research sites and directed students studying Neotropical African honey bees (killer bees) in French Guiana, Venezuela, and Mexico.
In 1992, Taylor founded Monarch Watch, an outreach program focused on education, research and conservation relative to monarch butterflies. Since then, Monarch Watch has enlisted the help of volunteers to tag monarchs during the fall migration. This program has produced many new insights into the dynamics of the monarch migration.
Realizing that habitats for monarchs were declining, Monarch Watch established the Monarch Waystation program in 2005 and the Bring Back the Monarchs program in 2010. The goal of these programs has been to inspire the public, schools and others to create habitats for monarch butterflies and to assist Monarch Watch in educating the public about the decline of resources for monarchs, pollinators, and all wildlife that share the same habitats.
Chip is on the Board of Governors for the Grassland Heritage Foundation, an organization devoted to prairie preservation and education, and also serves on the Steering Committees of Monarch Joint Venture and the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign. He also serves as an advisor to both “Make Way for Monarchs” and “Moving for Monarchs”. The latter is a dance, film, and photography project that promotes monarch conservation. Chip has also served as an advisor on many honey bee and monarch documentaries and films including “Flight of the Butterflies” and “Wings of Life”. Chip received a Growing Green Award from the National Resource Defense Council in 2014 for his work on behalf of monarch conservation.
Chip earned his Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut.
For additional information about the Weekend Event, go to http://www.plainschautauqua.com
Rosalynn Carter Butterfly Trail 