USU Extension promotes water conservation at annual butterfly release

A large number of people gathered in the courtyard of the Conservation Garden Park on Aug. 20 for the annual Party in the Park event. That Saturday afternoon, more than 1000 men, women and children waited impatiently as a man carried a box full of butterflies to the stage. When it was time, the countdown began. Ten, nine, eight seven…

As the crowd reached “one,” the box opened and 250 butterflies flew into the air. Some landed on the nectarous plants surrounding the stage, others flew into the surrounding garden and a few landed on people within the crowd. This was only one of two butterfly releases that day.

Onlookers get an up-close view of the butterflies

For Jessica Morgan, a senior in environmental soil and water sciences, butterflies were always something with a short life span that could be seen occasionally in gardens or mounted in cases. Working at the garden this summer, she had the opportunity to learn about their life cycle and how they  play a part in the ecosystem.

“I think a lot of people probably just don’t know as much about them as you would learn when you actually do a release,” Morgan said. “There’s just all these things that I think people probably don’t know that you probably wouldn’t learn anywhere else.”

In addition to learning about the life cycle of butterflies and their migration patterns, visitors to the park had the chance to learn about bees, pollination, Utah native plants, water-wise landscaping and more during the event. There was also live music, animal exhibits, garden tutorials and landscaping demonstrations throughout the park.

“Doing a butterfly release is really enticing,” Morgan said, “so if there’s any type of event where you want to draw people, doing a butterfly release is a really good way.”

Located in West Jordan, the Conservation Garden Park promotes water-conscious landscape practices through its demonstration gardens, exhibits and classes. This is the third year the park has hosted the Party in the Park.

“It’s trying to change people’s perceptions about water-wise landscaping,” said Clifton Smith, the garden manager, “so the butterfly event was good because it’s getting people to the garden that don’t regularly come.”

Water conservation is the park’s primary focus, Smith said. The demonstration gardens and classes teach visitors that yards can look beautiful all year and use less water versus putting in lawn everywhere, which is the popular yard layout in Utah, he added

“We’re trying to make a cultural shift,” he said. “Right now the culture is really geared towards lawn, that’s really important towards the culture and we’re trying to shift it away to make it more of a practical approach to landscaping.”

Many of the classes are taught by the Utah State University Extension program. Working in conjunction with the park, USU extension also hosts training for its Master Gardeners program there and has a children’s outreach program to get kids involved.

USU Extension promotes bee lifecycle conservation

“My mom was always the person who said ‘turn the sink off when you brush your teeth’ or different stuff like that,” Morgan said. “I always just was like, ‘yeah conserve water, that’s great,’ but then seeing everything that goes into it, how much water we use and the projections of our future of water its pretty crazy and it never felt more for-real, more serious, more like part of reality for me until really seeing it and working with it.”

Teaching students and young people especially is important in making a shift from a culture geared toward big green lawns toward a water conscious landscaping, Smith said.

“I think there’s some learning that they can do for when they’re in a position to have a home,” he said. “They can learn how to do it the right way from the get-go.”

Learning how much impact even small actions have on the environment has been one of the biggest things Morgan learned during her time working at the park.

“I think that everybody should be able to know and understand that even the little things you do to save water or to grow your own vegetables or you know just different things like that, to be more conscious to live in a softer, easier way, to be mindful of the earth, you can make a difference, even when you think you can’t.

To learn more about the Conservation Garden Park and  its mission, visit https://conservationgardenpark.org/

“Save water. Be conservative, save water, you matter,” Morgan said. “What you consume matters.”

See the video of the event at https://youtu.be/oPnnQur1B0M

  – Miranda Lorenc

Miranda.lorenc@gmail.com

@miranda_lorenc