The Role of Butterfly Conservatories

emerald swallowtail

At Butterfly Ridge, we work very hard to create habitat for butterflies and other pollinators. We do not have pristine, manicured, formal gardens, because those spaces hardly qualify as habitat. We have “weeds” in the few “flower beds” we have created, because those “weeds” are in fact solid nectar and host plant resources.

We also work very hard to manage expectations. The last thing we want is visitors arriving expecting they are going to be surrounded by clouds of butterflies, much like the seeds of Eywa descending upon Jake Sully in Avatar. Butterflies in their natural surroundings do not work that way. The three things that make our job of managing expectations so difficult is weather, butterfly life cycles, and butterfly conservatories. In this post, I want to focus on the latter.

blue morpho

On more than one occasion, we have had visitors to Butterfly Ridge expecting precisely an Avatar moment with our naturally occurring butterflies. We take many steps to predict and defuse these sorts of expectations. We have our Butterfly Forecast sign next to the driveway in which we daily try to set expectations. We also point out on our rules sign plastered to the side of the building a reminder that we are not a conservatory, that our butterflies are free to come and go as they like, and that we have poison ivy, ticks, snakes, and other naturally occurring beasties. We provide guided tours and written educational materials. We create educational videos on YouTube. And too often our attempts to predict and defuse fail.

Too many people think that the natural world operates like a butterfly conservatory. What these folks fail to realize is context. In that conservatory, there are no predators. In that conservatory, temperature fluctations are minimal. In that conservatory, drought, or too much rain, is not impacting food availability for caterpillars, because caterpillars are strictly forbidden in that environment. In that conservatory, the butterflies are captive, with minimal space to explore, therefore you are more likely to encounter them.

Butterfly conservatories provide a very unrealistic example of habitat. And for this reason, these conservatories are obligated to set the context through signage and educational programs. These facilities are obligated to inform visitors that the conservatory environment isn’t real. Understand please, the managers of the conservatory are simply trying to keep their butterflies alive until the next shipment arrives. At Butterfly Ridge, we are trying to keep our butterflies alive into perpetuity.

The conservatory whose sole purpose is to provide a “beautiful experience” is doing the butterflies, the visitors, and those who are doing conservation work a great disservice. If beauty is the goal, then an art exhibit with photos, paintings, or models could suffice. The conservatory must provide context; it must provide some connection to reality through education, because too many of their visitors are not knowledgeable enough to provide that context themselves.

the author performing his “dog and pony show'“.

As I write this I am emotionally torn. I made a living for six years working in a butterfly conservatory. I performed the educational “dog and pony show” twice a day, five days a week for six years. And I am not sure that I did a good enough job setting the context; establishing the reality. At the time I certainly thought I was trying to. I wanted people to see beyond the beauty of butterflies; to see their stories and their struggles. But so many of those folks were there for one reason, for a butterfly to land on them. And now those people are visiting me again at a different place, but for the same reason.

Don’t get me wrong, we have visitors who get it. Earlier this week we had some repeat visitors who came and shared how they were wanting to convert sections of their thirty acres into habitat, and how we had provided in part that inspiration. Those moments lift our hearts like you cannot possibly understand. Those moments are why we exist. Butterfly Ridge does not exist to display pretty butterflies; we exist so that you can go home and create the reality that will bring forth your own pretty butterflies. Those of you who get it, please let us know through a google review or a comment on social media.