Friday, September 17, 1999
The University Daily Kansan
Section A·Page 3
Scientist tracks monarchs' migration
A monarch butterfly lands on a daisy at Baker Wetlands. Thousands of butterflies migrate through the area each year as they travel south to Mexico. Photo by Bryson Gay/KANSAN
Ken Highfill, a Lawrence
High School biology
teacher, uses his homemade butterfly net to catch monarch butterflies nesting in the Baker Wetlands. Highfill and two of his students spent last evening trapping and tagging the butterflies for future research.
Photo by Chad
Cummings/KANSAN
Last year for the first time, we were able to estimate the total population of monarchs east of the Rocky Mountains and the mortality rate as a function of overall distance."
Orley "Chip" Taylor Professor of entomology
By Todd Halstedt
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
High overhead, the tree canopy at the Baker Wetlands shimmers with the ornate black and orange of monarch wings as they make their yearly migration to Mexico.
Orley "Chip" Taylor, professor of entomology, said that this fall's first monarch migration began Sept. 9 but that the highest concentration of monarchs was yet to come, although they might bypass the Lawrence area.
Monarchs employ northwest- westsly winds during the day to travel to Mexico. At night, they nest in trees.
"They may go right overhead, and we won't see the largest concentration because they can easily fly at five thousand feet." Taylor said.
Taylor created Monarch W a t c h www.monarchwatch.org, two years ago to spread conservation information about monarchs and to distribute educational materials.
Dana Wilfong, Monarch Watch program assistant, said that the organization sent tagging kits and rearing kits out to schools. The rearing kits allow students to watch the process of monarchs from caterpillar to butterfly.
Tagging butterflies, which allows the tracking of the monarch, involves placing a round sticker on the monarch's wing. Each sticker has an individual number and the University's address.
She said that last year one in every 200 tagged monarchs was found in Mexico, which confirms that monarchs traveling through Lawrence make it to Mexico.
"Tagging is really easy, so even small kids can do it," Wilfong said.
Taylor said that the best chance to see the butterflies was in the next couple of days at the Baker Wetlands, southeast of 31st and Louisiana streets. Migration will run through the beginning of October.
Taylor said that monarchs travel more than 2,500 miles yearly from as far north as Toronto to wintering sites in the Sierra Madre Mountains,
about 100 miles west of Mexico City. More than 70 million monarchs wintered in the mountains last year. He said there were 10 well-known wintering sites on five or six mountain tops. The mountaintops are covered with fir trees that provide a nice canopy and a safe place for the monarchs to spend the winter.
"One of the reason I founded the organization was to raise awareness of conservation of the fir trees because of logging conducted by some of the local people," Taylor said. "I want to make them feel that it is necessary to maintain the forests instead of cutting them down."
David Gibo, a professor at the University of Toronto who is in town collaborating on research with Taylor, said that the migration pattern of the monarch was complex.
"It looks like there is no plan at all." Gibo said. "We can tell that they are doing something complicated, but it's an insect so it has to be simple. We are trying to find a simple answer to a complicated problem."
Ken Highfill, Lawrence High School teacher, has been involved with Monarch Watch since its conception and has students involved in the tagging.
"Students get acquainted with a naturally occurring event that they might not normally get a chance to be part of." Highfill said.
Gibo said that Monarch Watch was filling an important niche in the research of the monarch.
"It is terrific." Gibo said.
"It is terrific. Gina"
It has gotten a huge number of people interested, and it has given a number of kids hands-on field experience. It has increased our understanding of the monarch."
Students from more than 2,000 schools throughout the nation are participating in tagging the monarchs.
"We are learning a lot of different things through the tagging," Taylor said. "Last year for the first time, we were able to estimate the total population of monarchs east of the Rocky Mountains and the mortality rate as a function of overall distance."
— Edited by Darrin Peschka
Sidewalk scribbling expresses many views
Messages call names present philosophies
By Nathan Willis writer@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
If you believe the writing on the University of Kansas sidewalks, The University Daily Kansan should be banned, 105.9 The Lazer needs to change its format, and the University has a slut or two.
When the chalk dust settled after a day-long sidewalk chalk giveaway by the American Civil Liberties Union on Wednesday at Wescoe Beach, the sidewalks revealed writings that ranged from philosophical to silly to slanderous.
"There were all kinds of things written," said J.D. Jenkins, Shawnee junior
and ACLU advocacy chairman.
some of those things were personal attacks. Others used vulgar language.
A chalk writing near Stauffer-Flint Hall called somebody a slut, and another one at Wescoe Beach gave out a student's phone number.
And, ironically, many of the writings targeted the ACLU and its recent attack on the University seal, which the ACLU claims has religious connotations.
"That's obviously somebody's opinion," Norton said. "If somebody gets pissed off and puts that someone is a slut, I think it's wrong. I think it's immoral. But they should have the right to do it."
David Norton, a Lapin junior who was sitting at Wescoe Beach yesterday afternoon, said the offensive writings were in poor taste but should be allowed.
ACLU took a similar stance.
ACLU president Kevin Sivits said the
Some writing around Wescoe Beach attacked Provost David Shulenburger for saying he would be in favor of restrictions on commercial sidewalk writing, Sivits said. But he said he hoped the attacks on Shulenburger would not change Shulenburger's opinion on continuing to allow sidewalk writing by students for noncommercial purposes.
"I don't encourage that type of thing," Sivits said. "But we wouldn't control such things. We weren't going to stop anybody from writing anything. I would hope that it would be a non-issue in that some people may get their feelings hurt, but the defense of people saying what they want is more important."
Shulenburger was out of town Wednesday and yesterday, and no one else in the provost's office was willing to comment on the issue. Shulenburger
On the whole, Jenkins said, the day was a success. Potentially offensive or slanderous writings were by far in the minority of the chalk writings and drawings. Of the roughly 300 people the ACLU passed out chalk to, most used it wisely, he said.
previously had said any changes in the sidewalk policy would come from University Governance, not from him.
Indeed, some students said they appreciated the writings and the ACLU's efforts to bring attention to the issue.
“It's cool,” said Meghan Bainum, Topeka sophomore. “It's a part of KU, and it's a part of student expression.”
However, she said she agreed with Shulenburger that commercial chalking should be banned. And, she said, if students start making personal attacks, the administration has a right to put restrictions on writing.
Edited by Julia Nicholson
Federal aid for students could shrink
By Amanda Kaschube writer@kanson.com Kansan staff writer
The level of government financial aid received by students may decrease if an appropriations bill does not pass through Congress by Oct. 1.
Laura Wilcox, assistant director of public affairs of the American Council on Education, said cuts on financial aid could be as dramatic as 18 percent.
"Congress is having a hard time passing all the programs on the bill," she said.
If the bill is passed, financial aid could be funded at last year's levels, but it could also be adjusted up or down.
"In 1997, we had caps because we had big deficits," she said. "Two years since then, we have had a big surplus, and we can't touch it unless Congress eliminates the caps. With the caps, we have to cut programs."
Financial aid — part of the Labor, Health and Human Service and Education bill — is lumped into one bill with 13 other appropriations for other governmental programs. Wilcox said budget caps were the culprit of the potential cuts.
The changes in financial aid would affect many KU students,including Rachel
Berardn, Overland Park freshman. Berardn said she was concerned about the cuts because without the money, she would be unable to attend school.
Diane Del Buono, director of the Office of Student Financial Aid, said she was alarmed at the possibility of substantial cuts.
"Our staff is very committed to helping students go to
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE DECISION ON FINANCIAL AID
- Contact the Student Aid Alliance's Web site at www.studentaidalliance.org
- Call the Alliance's hotline at 1-800-574. 4243.
college," she said. "Fifty-seven percent of students rely on some financial aid at the University. That's a huge chunk."
Wilcox said she was unsure if lawmakers would eliminate the budget caps, but she said the only way to increase financial aid would be to cut out other programs and take their money.
Wilcox said the Student Aid Alliance, a coalition of organizations representing colleges, has helped increase awareness for the potential aid problems.
we are urging students, parents and college officials to contact Congress and let them know how important financial aid is," she said. "They need to know how powerful grassroots efforts can be."
Bernard said she would write a letter to her congressman if the future of financial aid looked dismal.
Andy Sandate, Newton junior, receives a Perkins Loan from the government and said he, too, would contact Congress on the subject.
"I get half of my money from financial aid," he said. "The cut would hurt me a lot." Wilcox said that in 1995, rallies and letter writing campaigns helped convince Congress of the importance of aid.
"In fact, not only did they not cut it, they increased it." she said.
For the Oct. 1 vote on the appropriations bill concerning financial aid, Wilcox said Congress had three options if it did not lift budget caps:
Appropriators would cut severely programs by the amount they are lacking
- Appropriators would find savings and/or offsets elsewhere in the federal budget and add these funds to the budget allocations
- Congress would issue a continuing resolution that would stabilize current levels of aid for a stated amount of time until voting progresses.
— Edited by Chris Hopkins
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