Sutherland, Iowa — A Kansas woman is in the middle of an epic journey on a bicycle — following the migration of the monarch butterfly. And she’s going to be in northwest Iowa talking about it this Friday night, May 26th.
O’Brien County naturalist Charlene Elyea says that each spring millions of monarch butterflies leave the mountains of Central Mexico, where they survived the winter, to begin their annual migration north. She tells us about 32-year-old Sara Dykman’s 10,000-mile biking journey, or as Dykman would say, “Butterbiking with the butterflies.”
The event is free to the public, and more information can be found at www.prairieheritagecenter.org.
The Prairie Heritage Center is just one of many stops on Dykman’s bicycle migration, including presentations to school kids. During her presentation, the students look at photos and listen to stories from her trip. They learned all about the unique monarch migration, and tried out some of her camping gear.
She says these rest stops and presentations are key to the success of Dykman’s adventure. She says that as much as she loves biking, what she will remember most are the people that invite her in and the students that have hundreds of questions and can’t wait to hear more. She says “They motivate me to keep moving.”
And keep moving she must. In order to follow the migration, Dykman says she must cover about 300 miles per week on a bicycle loaded down with everything she needs for life on the road. From camping equipment to presentation materials, her bike is heavy and she moves slowly following the monarch migration while raising awareness about the importance of monarchs and threats to this iconic species.
She also says that unless people start planting native nectar plants and milkweed in their gardens and on their lands and lawns, the monarchs are likely to go extinct.
