The Monarch butterfly is an eye-catching, undeniably beautiful native of the West. That’s why this instantly recognizable and delicate creature was included in Alta Journal’s “Seven Wonders of California” issue. With its fascinating biology, dwindling numbers, and growing collection of devoted enthusiasts, this butterfly deserves our attention. Who better to help educate us than a man known as the Monarch Butterfly King of Bolinas. Ole Schell, founder of the West Marin Monarch Sanctuary, will sit down with Alta Live to explain why Monarchs are particularly special, detail the reasons behind the declining numbers and the importance of butterfly counts, and answer our many (many) questions about this winged wonder. Flutter on over and join us for this very special Alta Live.

About the guest:

Award-winning filmmaker and farmer Ole Schell (Orville H. Schell IV) grew up in Bolinas on his father’s Niman/Schell Ranch, where the annual arrival of thousands of Western Monarch butterflies was a dependable autumn phenomenon. The alarming decline in this butterfly population has moved Schell to establish the West Marin Monarch Sanctuary on his family land in Bolinas. With extensive research, partnership with specialists, and a creative vision, Schell has planted hundreds of native plants and developed a program to support the butterflies and inform and inspire the public. He is an NYU film school graduate who began his career at the Saturday Night Live film unit and has since directed widely released documentaries in the United States, Europe, and China. In the commercial world, he focuses on technology, fashion, sustainability, and electric vehicles.

Here are some notable quotes from this event:

  • On his interest in monarchs: “They’re super beautiful, delicate animals that have a beautiful, poetic kind of lifespan where they only live a matter of weeks, and yet they go on this incredible journey. Personally, when I was a kid, I was accustomed to there being a bounty of monarch butterflies in my hometown, and we sort of took them for granted.… It was normal for me to see one of our 29 overwintering groves in Bolinas—usually on eucalyptus trees—to be completely and totally full of monarchs. You could shake a branch, and 500 or 1,000 would fly away. There’s something very poetic about the monarch butterfly, and in our town it’s steeped in our culture.”
  • On monarch butterfly populations: “In the 1980s, there were three to five million monarchs in California. And they declined very quickly. One year, there were 300,000; the next year, 20,000; and by 2020, there are 1,850 in the whole state. Think about that: from three to five million to 1,850. Why? Pesticides, habitat loss, global warming, and fires. It’s believed that monarchs are directed often by temperature, and so global warming could confuse them. And I think pesticides are a major culprit.”
  • On keeping hope alive: “I would be lying if I said I didn’t question what I’m doing sometimes. Despite my best efforts, I’m no match for global climate change, human expansionism, or the Donald Trump administration. But all you can do is keep hope alive and keep planting. You know, it’s got me quite busy doing all this work, and I have to remind myself often that my job is to get plants in the ground.”

Check out these links to some of the topics brought up this week.