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How Rosalynn Carter fought to keep the monarch butterfly alive in Georgia

By FOX 5 Atlanta Digital Team
Published  November 20, 2023 7:40am EST
Rosalynn Carter
FOX 5 Atlanta
article

(Special to FOX 5)

PLAINS, Ga. - If you see a monarch butterfly in Georgia, you should thank former first lady Rosalynn Carter.

Mrs. Carter, who is known for many humanitarian advocacy issues, also found solutions to declining wild winged wonders whose migration from North America to Mexico had become threatened. She and her neighbor, Annette Wise, began planting native flowers to attract the pollinators to their gardens in Plains, Georgia.

Eventually, more and more neighbors began to follow suit, turning a few homes into a "trail" of butterfly gardens. The trail now consists of both public and private gardens, some of which can be toured. So, it was named the Rosalynn Carter Butterfly Trail.

Once a year, there is a summer symposium on butterfly gardening. During the inaugural Butterfly Daze weekend in 2022, the new Rosalynn Smith Carter Childhood Garden was dedicated alongside Mrs. Carter’s childhood home. The Carters made a rare public appearance for the event.

At the center was a statue, created by Nevada’s Peter Hazel, showing eight stems which have attracted 18 different monarch butterflies, symbolizing the former first lady’s birthday on August 18. From a distance, the tangle of stems appears to form a heart.

The 12-foot-tall statue has stems made from steel and the butterflies are thick glass and mosaic tile. During the dedication ceremony, the statue was officially lit for the first time.

(Special to FOX 5)

The piece, entitled "Dancing Monarchs," will be the centerpiece of the gardens that are being designed as an educational experience for STEM and STEAM related activities for students from Kindergarten through high school. Garden creators also hope to attract pollinators, including the monarch butterfly.

South Georgia Technical College students will have internship opportunities in the garden. The Friends of Jimmy Carter National Historical Park Foundation will also make it available for parties and weddings.

(Special to FOX 5)

The former first lady believed the more butterfly gardens that exist, the greater chance butterflies, in particular the monarch butterfly, can thrive. She hopes that others will carry on the tradition of a butterfly garden and others will even start their own butterfly trails.

ALL ROSALYNN CARTER STORIES

To learn more about the Rosalynn Carter Butterfly Trail, click here.