wednesday, february 4, 2004
news
the university daily kansan 5A
Monarch taggers to go to Mexico
By Becca Evanhoe
bevanhoe@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Monarch conservationists across the country spent this summer and fall tagging thousands of butterflies as they migrated from Canada through the United States to Mexico.
Now crew members of Monarch Watch, a KU-based monarch conservation program, are heading to Mexico to meet the butterflies.
Monarch watch tracks the international migration by marking the butterflies with small, numbered sticker-like tags placed on the wing.
When the butterflies reach Mexico, they land by the millions in forests called over-wintering sites, where they will spend the winter months.
"It's hard to imagine unless you've seen it, 25 million butterflies per acre with tree limbs breaking from the weight of the butterflies," said Chip Taylor, founder of Monarch Watch and a
professor of biological sciences.
"To be there when tens of thousands of butterflies lift off from a breeze, you can just hear this rush of wings."
A three-person crew, headed by Taylor, is preparing to travel Feb. 25 to Mexico to study the butterflies in the over-wintering sites. They'll also spend the part of the trip in a cantina, buying the tags back from Mexican villagers who collect the tags from the butterflies. Each tag earns the collector 50 pesos, about $5, or about a third of a villager's day wages.
Once the tags are back in the hands of the Monarch Watch crew, the team will enter them in a database to figure out where the butterflies came from, and how successfully made the trip.
Taylor said finding the tags is not an easy task. About 100,000 butterflies are tagged each year, but the odds of finding one such tagged butterfly is about one in 25,000.
"People search one, two, three hours for each tag they find," he said. "Finding these tags is like
finding a gold coin to them."
The crew first went to Mexico to buy tags in 1993 and has made the journey every year for the past six years.
In 2002, following a severe storm that killed at least 75 percent of the monarch population, the group paid a total of $12,000 to the villagers — the largest source of outside income for many of the tag collectors.
Monarch Watch, founded in 1992, began as a research program to study monarch migratory patterns. Now the program's goals include not only conservation of monarchs but also science education for elementary schools.
The researchers continue to study how the butterflies interact with the environment during their migration and life cycle.
Taylor said he felt good about boosting the local economy.
"Not only does it put money in their pockets, but they see that other people value the butterflies." he said.
The mystery lies in how the
butterflies can navigate across an entire continent, and what environmental clues such as weather trigger the start of the migration.
"It's one of nature's really spectacular shows," he said. "It would be foolish to let this thing disappear."
The migration is an amazing feat, Taylor said, especially for a butterfly weighing half a gram with a few hundred neurons for a brain.
Randy Schumacher, Topeka senior and Monarch Watch employee, said the international flight of the monarchs is an important link between Canada, the United States and Mexico.
"It's important to all the different people in North America," he said. "It's something we all have in common."
The money needed to run the program, including buying back the tags, comes from memberships in the Monarch Watch program, the sale of promotional items and donations.
Amazon to charge state sales tax
—Edited by Stephanie Lovett
TOPEKA — Online retailer Amazon.com will begin complying with changes in the state's sales tax law beginning April 1, company officials told legislators yesterday.
The Associated Press
Rich Prem, the company's head tax official, said Seattle-based Amazon.com has been working with Kansas to conform with the state's new destination-based sales tax law since July, when it took effect. Amazon.com operates an automated distribution center in Coffeyville, employing 375 people.
Prem said Amazon.com is joining retailers Toys "R" Us, Babies "R"Us and Target, which already remit sales tax from Internet and other offsite sales to the state.
Prem estimated that Amazon.com will collect between $1
million and $1.2 million a year in sales taxes from Kansans purchasing products distributed through the Coffeyville site. Kansans currently are required to pay a use tax to the state for purchases made out of state, over the Internet or from catalogs, if the retailer doesn't do so.
"Presumably, some customers are self-assessing and remitting that tax," Prem said, drawing chuckles from legislators.
The new sales tax law requires merchants to collect sales taxes at the rate imposed where they deliver their goods. For decades, merchants have collected the tax at the rate in effect where their businesses are located.
The state imposes a 5.3 percent sales tax, but cities and counties can add their own local taxes, which can raise the total rate paid
by consumers to 7.8 percent. Because Kansas has 751 taxing jurisdictions, rates can vary within a county.
Kansas is part of a consortium of states moving toward streamlined sales tax collection, with a goal of collecting taxes on Internet and catalog sales. Prem said many states are looking to Kansas for guidance in implementing the changes, including Washington and Ohio.
"We're all for simplification," he said. "We are just asking for one rule for our programmers."
Revenue Secretary Joan Wagnon said the state continues to exercise relaxed enforcement of the new law. Wagnon said the agency has been developing software and other support materials to help businesses comply with the changes. A series of statewide workshops begin next
Wagnon said while progress was being made to address concerns, businesses must be willing to make changes and work with the state.
"Our philosophy is to help them," she told legislators. "There's a point where I can't keep relaxing this forever."
However, legislators have introduced several bills in response to concerns from retailers, including one that would place a moratorium on complying with the changes until July 1. Other bills would provide tax credits for investments in new computers or cash registers necessary to compute the tax rates.
House Taxation Committee Chairman John Edmonds (R-Great Bend) said the committee is likely to begin reviewing many of the proposals later this month.
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KU Waterski and WakeboardTeam 2004 Informational Meeting
Wednesday, February 4 at 7:00 PM Olympian Room, #310 in the Burge Union On the agenda is new membership, our Florida Spring Break trip and the wakeboarding team. No experience necessary! If you've ever considered waterskiing on wakeboarding, we are the group for you!
KU Waterski Team
www.kuwaterski.com
Student Alumni Association Meeting Tonight!
Wednesday, Feb. 4 Adams Alumni Center 6 p.m.
Want to get more involved on campus? Interested in getting connected with alumni?
Learn more about SAA and start the semester off right! It's not too late to volunteer for the Rock Chalk Ball!