Grade 3-6, MS, and HS

C. Migration CA  UT+  CA
The monarch milkweed mapper website has published an
intricate map that illustrates where milkweed plants have been
sighted west of the Rocky Mountain Range. This also includes
where any monarch butterflies have been observed in flight
and/or at roosting sites across the area. Plus, it shows where
monarch eggs have been found on milkweed plants. Using this
data along with the tag data from prior years an approximated
flight pathway can be created.
Map of where milkweed was reported.
Source: MonarchMilkweedMapper.org
The route migration route that monarch butterflies take was established hundreds if not thousands of years ago.
When the last ice-age receded in North America (10,000 to 12,000 years ago), the
milkweed plant advanced northward from Mexico and the monarch soon followed.
However, the northern locations of the milkweed produced a modified plant that
died back in the fall and thus a supply of leaves were unavailable to feed the
monarch caterpillars. This caused the adult butterflies to journey southward where
the leaves were still plentiful. The tropical version of milkweed Asclepias
Monarch egg on milkweed. curassavica is still native in the U.S. and can be found in southern Florida. For the
Source
last few thousands of years, the North American
monarch adults’ fall migration consists of flying up to 4,400 miles southwards to
warmer weather and then resting for about four months before starting the return
journey as they follow the spring spouting of milkweed.

Like all migratory animals they are following their food source and environmental
necessities. The route the monarchs use must provide them with sources of milkweed to
Monarch during its migration.
lay their eggs upon, plentiful sources of water and nectar along the journey for refueling, Source: Farmers.net
groups of trees to roost in at nighttime or as protection from stormy weather, and the
lowest elevation change (a saddle) to get over the Sierra Mountain Range that stood between their two seasonal
homes. The required lift needed to cross at a non-saddle pass took extra energy that was precious and in short supply
for the traveling monarchs.

The Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History’s Sanctuary’s Monarch

Facebook website reveals that the majority of the monarchs leave this winter
roosting area in mid-February. This is when the California native milkweed,
Asclepias californica, is beginning to sprout in the Central Valley region a little
to the west of the coastal wintering sites. By late March, the plant will be in full
Asclepias californica
Source: Plant Net
 Grade 3-6, MS, and HS

bloom and there are plentiful blooms of flowering plants to provide a ready supply of nectar to support the monarchs
along their journey.

After mating in California, the male monarch will die within a few days. If
he bore a migrating tag from the prior year’s summer habitat area’s tagging
program, this is a clue as to the flight pathway from the coastal wintering sites.
The female will spend up to two weeks laying her 300-500 eggs and then she
too will die. If she was tagged, and her tag was found and/or observed, then
another clue is found, hopefully further along the journey’s route. Thanks to the
help of citizen scientists the newly eclosed 1st generation monarch may get
tagged in California or Nevada as they pass through. It is the spring's 2nd
generation that reaches as far inland as Utah in June and July as they journey
north.

Monarch Breeding Map

Source: Western Monarch It will be the 4th or 5th generation of a Western
Butterfly Conservation Plan
Monarch that will be tagged at their summer home prior to
leaving northern Utah or Idaho’s Snake River Valley in mid-September when the fall
migration begins as the temperature at nighttime approaches 60°F. Based on the Pacific
Grove’s Sanctuary's Fall of 2022 Monarch Count, the monarchs started arriving there during
A tagged monarch
the 2nd week of October, having completed the 700 miles journey from the northern part of butterfly. Source
Utah. Utah State University tags were observed at the Pacific Grove Sanctuary in October and November of 2022.

2022 Monarch Fall Count Pacific Grove, CA Source: Mercury News

It is hard to plot the monarch’s route back towards California for no eggs were laid enroute. However, observers
at established Monarch Watch Waystations in Utah, Nevada, and California have been a big help. Plus, like all
migrating animals, monarch butterflies usually follow the same route in the fall as their predecessors took in the
spring.
 Grade 3-6, MS, and HS

Beginning in 1811 fur traders started exploring

out towards California. They were followed by the
pioneers coming out west. By 1840 the California
Trail was established by leaving the Oregon Trail at
Fort Hall. This trail followed the Humboldt River
most of the way across Nevada and then over the
saddle to become known as Donner Pass. The Pass
was a low point, at 7056 feet, through the Sierra
Mountains. By following the river, these pioneers
had a constant source of water as they crossed the
desert of central Nevada. When the California Gold
Map of trails west across the United States
Rush started in January of 1848, this was the route Source: National Geographic

taken to Sutter’s Mill.

When the Pony Express operated from April of 1860 until October
of 1861 (all of 18 months), it basically followed the California Trail
until the River turned north with the Pony Express route continuing east
towards Salt Lake City, Utah. At the western end, it used Donner Pass
over the Sierra Mountains and terminated at Sacramento, which was
formerly called Sutter’s Mill.
Pony Express Route
Source: Pony Express National Historic Trail

When the transcontinental railroad was constructed between 1863

and 1864, the survey took it from Sacramento, over the Donner Pass,
followed the Humboldt River to its eastern end, and then headed for
Promontory Point in Utah as it encompassed 690 miles of track.

Transcontinental Railroad map from 1869

Source: ellushistory

When the interstate system of roads was

established in 1956, I-80 was marked and paved as a
controlled-access highway that began in New York
City and ended in California. The Nevada portion
follows the Pony Express route west from Salt Lake
City until meeting the Humboldt Rover and exits Map of I-80 across the US Source

Nevada via Donner Pass on its way to the California

Coast.
 Grade 3-6, MS, and HS

In summary, the land route from the Central Valley of California eastward over Donner Pass, following the
Humboldt River across most of Nevada, and then forking as it approached the Utah border to get around the Great
Salt Lake was following the air route established by an animal with a wingspan of less than five inches, that weighed
less than a paperclip, and the fueled on water and sugar.