For immediate release
Contact: Gina Stiles, 904-757-4463, ext. 210

  Volunteers Needed for the Florida Butterfly Monitoring Network

                       
November 3, 2006 – The Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens announced it is hosting a special training session for volunteers that wish to participate in the Florida Butterfly Monitoring Network (FBMN). The training sessions will be held at the Zoo’s PepsiCo Education Campus auditorium on Saturday, November 11, 2006, from 9:00 a.m. through 1:00 p.m.  J. Akers Pence, Ph.D., State Coordinator for the Florida Butterfly Monitoring Network will conduct the training. Participants will be given a brief overview of the Florida Butterfly Monitoring Network, the anatomy of a butterfly, and will perform a training exercise in the Education butterfly garden on how to identify common butterflies.  Those who are interested in volunteering should call 904-757-4463 ext. 200 to reserve a space. Only 50 volunteers will be accepted on a first-come, first-serve basis.

The FBMN program relies on trained volunteers to collect data from butterfly observations at various sites across Florida. The volunteers provide up-to-date information on Florida’s diverse butterfly fauna.  The data collected will be used to assess the distribution and population trends of both common and imperiled butterflies.  This information will facilitate the development of appropriate species’ conservation and management strategies.

 “The volunteer techniques are easy to learn and the field work is fun, said Greg Lepera, Curator of Herpetology for Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens and coordinator of the FBMN event. “The Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens is proud of its partnership with the FBMN and looks forward to furthering the FBMN efforts to learn more about Florida’s butterfly populations to help ensure their existence in the future.”