UPCOMING: - Thursday, September 9 - NELSON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY - 3:30pm CVEC, Colleen - Tuesday, September 14 - BOARD OF SUPERVISORS 2:00/7:30pm - Wednesday, September 15 - PLANNING COMMISSION WORK SESSION ON ZONING ORDINANCE - 7:30pm Courthouse - Tuesday, September 21 - JOINT BOARD OF SUPERVISORS/PLANNING COMMISSION PUBLIC HEARING ON ZONING ORDINANCE - 7:00pm Auditorium at High School/Middle School Complex - Wednesday, September 22 - PLANNING COMMISSION 7:30pm Courthouse ------------------------------------------------------------------------- RURAL NELSON MINUTES WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1ST, 2004 RURAL NELSON OFFICE The meeting was called to order at 7:30 p.m. by Conny Roussos, who welcomed us all, after which we introduced ourselves. Dr. Lincoln Brower, from Sweet Briar College, introduced the subject of his talk, "The Grand Saga of the Monarch Butterfly." He described his wife, Linda, as the real professor at Sweet Briar. He is retired and spends his time researching butterflies. He loves the beauty and the lack of crowding in Nelson County, and would like to see the county continue to have no traffic lights! He started studying the Monarch butterfly in the 1950's, at Amherst College. In the 1970's it was discovered that Monarchs winter over in Mexico. Dr. Brower first saw them there, on top of a mountain, in 1977. First he showed us slides illustrating the life of the Monarch. All monarchs are tropical, and can be found in Asia, South America, and Africa. The majority is found in Southeast Asia. At the moment, Monarchs are at an all-time low in numbers. They are part of a family called the Milkweed Species, because they eat the latex from Milkweed, which is highly toxic to other animals. Milkweeds do not continue to produce in cold weather, so Monarchs must winter-over in the tropics. Over the course of the summer two or three generations of Monarchs will be born. Monarchs have very sharp claws, which they use to hang onto the trees in Mexico. They lay their eggs in Milkweed plants. First comes the pupa stage, followed by the chrysalis, which cannot fall to the ground or it will be destroyed. The chrysalis hangs on with little silk hooks. About a week later the butterfly hatches. Late summer is the time for migration. It will peak in about three weeks. They fly to Mexico, guided by directions encoded in their brains that they inherited from their great grandparents - the ones that flew north the previous spring. Each Monarch weighs less than a penny, and will traverse 2800 miles, on average, in its lifetime. They avoid flying over the ocean, instead crossing the Trans Volcanic Mountain Range of Mexico. They end up on 10 - 11,000 foot mountains, favoring high mountain fir forests. To see them fly en masse is truly remarkable. They settle in the mid-section of the fir trees. It is a pristine, gorgeous area. Just one clump of butterflies contains about a thousand Monarchs. They go into a wild orgy of mating in March. Each can mate up to 14 times. While they are in Mexico they fly to drink water, but don't eat anything. They form their clusters where they are out of the wind. One of the problems facing the Monarchs is the incursion of agriculture. The Monarch colonies can vary in size from a quarter acre to twenty acres. There have been several attempts to preserve this area. It was declared protected in 1986, but the ordinance hasn't been effective. The logging industry is encroaching. Additionally, people who live there harvest wood to heat their houses. Often logging is done illegally. Dr. Brower and a friend devised a way, using photographs, to prove to the government the degradation caused by loggers. The protected area needs to be enlarged and better monitored, as over the course of 28 years there has been extensive damage to it. More and more the forest is getting cut up into pieces. They presented their data to the Mexican government in 2000. The government was very responsive and there are now 62,000 hectares protected, but the old problem of massive illegal logging persists. GIS has helped enormously in terms of understanding the multiple influences on the region. We were shown pictures from the satellite "Landsat." There is now a joint U.S./Mexican GIS team working on correct geo-referencing for the whole area. About a year ago illegal loggers began a remorseless attack on the "protected" area. Monarchs use the forests as an umbrella and a protection from the snow and rainstorms up on the mountains. They cannot tolerate wet or extreme cold. A terrible storm landed in the area last January. The monarchs got soaked and then froze. Eighty percent of their population died. Dr. Brower showed pictures of a human being buried up to the neck in dead butterflies. In just one colony it is estimated that 195 million butterflies died. Dr. Brower predicted that the Monarch is doomed in the U.S., because herbicides and genetically modified growth is killing all weeds, including Milkweeds, especially in the Midwest. His closing argument was that the Monarchs should be protected, and are important to mankind, because of their unique beauty. He described himself as "an evil environmentalist." The combination of the storms in Mexico and their loss of habitat in the U.S. have meant that Monarch numbers are at an historical low. Dr. Brower made the statement that he feels 50% of the earth should remain untouched to preserve habitat for all the species of plants, birds and animals that need it. He pointed out that it will be really interesting in the next few years when scientists succeed in putting electronic devises on butterflies, and we will be able to track them on their journeys. The World Wildlife Fund has been the most active in helping to protect the Monarch. Mexico does not like to be flooded by U.S. money, and Dr. Brower is actually working to get the protected area into private hands, as he feels private owners will do more to protect the butterflies than the government, which can do little to keep out the illegal loggers. It is much easier to work with local people than it is with the government. He is hopeful that he will be able to involve the Nature Conservancy in the issue. Part of the problem is that there is no good infrastructure for ecotourism in Mexico. The layers of corruption are huge, and as a result, instead of government enforcement of protection areas, there is governmental chaos. The American Museum of Natural History may be having a tour of the wintering-over area this year. This coming winter they are going to have eight days of small plane flights in and out of small canyons looking for other wintering -over sites. If they find any, Dr. Brower admitted, it probably would be a good idea not to tell anyone. The next Rural Nelson meeting will be on Wednesday, Oct. 6th. C. W. Williams of the Biosolids Information Group will be speaking on biosolids (sludge), the safety and health issues involved, and what local governments and citizens can do for their own protection. Respectfully Submitted, Mary Buford Hitz ------------------------------------------------------------------------ OF INTEREST: - "Race to the G.E.D." will offer day classes at The Nelson Center for the first time in many years. For more information go to www.vaged.vcu.edu or email ged@vcu.edu or telephone 1 877-37-MY-GED. - September 30 Sixth Annual Regional Economic Development Symposium - hosted by Thomas Jefferson Partnership for Economic Development - "It's Time for a Common Vision" featuring regional overview, changing needs of five major employers, and challenges of remaining #1 with Eva Klein. Piedmont Virginia Community College/V. Earl Dickinson Building 9 am - 12 noon Registration and Coffee/Donuts at 8:30 a.m. There is no fee but reservations required. RSVP/Questions to Sue Friedman 434.979.5610 sue@tjped.com - Advocates for a Sustainable Albemarle Population (ASAP) Conference - "Number One Today - But Tomorrow?" Will this still be the "Best Place to Live" when our population doubles? Purpose: to stimulate informed discussion about local population growth, and provide accurate information about the need and ability of localities to control their demographic fates. Saturday, October 2, 2004, from 9:00 am to 12:45 pm. Registration (free - with coffee and donuts) will be from 8:30 to 9:00. Lane Auditorium in the Albemarle County Office Building. The headline speaker will be Jim Burton, the Loudoun County Supervisor who gave an impressive presentation at ASAP's 2002 conference. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kim T. Cash Field Officer Rural Nelson, Inc. P. O. Box 401 (622 Front Street) Lovingston, VA 22949 434.263.5000 Email: info@ruralnelson.org www.ruralnelson.org