Monarch butterflies set to take flight from Yakima Convention Center plaza Friday morning

A batch of Monarch butterflies will take flight at 11:45 a.m. Friday during a release on the plaza in front of the Yakima Convention Center.

Butterfly expert David James, an associate professor of entomology at Washington State University in Prosser, will release a cage full of butterflies, which he has raised and tagged, after teaching a session called “Biology and Conservation of the Monarch Butterfly in the Pacific Northwest.”

The session is among others offered during the WSU Master Gardener Advanced-Education Conference taking place at the convention center. Hosted by the Master Gardener Foundation of Yakima County, it began Wednesday and ends Friday.

Monarchs, which migrate over vast distances, are a species in decline. James expects that the insects he releases here will eventually arrive in California or even Mexico later this year. Using information on small tags on their wings, he hopes to hear from people along the migration routes, identifying where and when they are discovered, according to a news release.

During his educational session earlier Friday, James will present information on the rapidly evolving new understanding of Monarch butterfly biology and ecology in the Pacific Northwest and will highlight the results of five years of citizen scientist-aided tagging of Monarchs, according to information on the conference website, canyoudigit-2017.org.

He will also stress the importance of creating Monarch butterfly habitat in Washington gardens, parks and natural areas to help reverse population decline.

While his session is open only to those registered for the conference, the butterfly release is a public event.

This story was originally published September 21, 2017 at 4:04 PM with the headline "Monarch butterflies set to take flight from Yakima Convention Center plaza Friday morning."