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The monarch butterfly weighs a fourth of a gram, yet migrates thousands of miles every September
through Iowa to overwintering grounds in Mexico.

The iconic orange-and-black butterfly marks changing seasons. Chasing it is a rite of Iowa early childhood and watching its life transformations in classrooms is a thrilling memory, as it was for two school groups this week.

(Photo: driftlessstudio, Getty Images/iStockphoto)

But earlier in the week, a leading monarch scientist announced that the monarch may be heading closer to its death. Lincoln Brower joined three nonprofit groups in a petition of the government to save the monarch from steep population decline, saying the main cause is agricultural practices in fields – the same fields Iowa children see out their schoolroom windows.

Liz Block, a retired teacher who was conducting a volunteer monarch presentation to elementary students Wednesday, said it was hard to find monarch eggs on fewer milkweed plants this year. Then a caterpillar climbed to the top of a classroom terrarium to make its chrysalis.

“The children just rushed up to see it,” she said. “The control was gone. It just captures the kids. If you are a spiritual person, it’s a metaphor. If you are a naturalist, it’s a wonderful thing to watch.”

In Dallas County on the same day, naturalist Chris Adkins was giving a similar presentation when the shouts of a young schoolgirl girl rang out. “It’s wiggling!” Again, the children rushed to the terrarium. “In 30 seconds we watched that chrysalis split open and watched a butterfly emerge,” Adkins said. “Every kid in there was wide-eyed and slack-jawed.”

But the monarch is in trouble, says Brower, the renowned monarch researcher from Sweet Briar College. He made national news last year when his yearly monarch count in the overwintering grounds in Mexico showed a 90 percent decline in monarchs over 20 years.