OCEANSIDE — Two years after creating a butterfly exhibit at the Buena Vista Lagoon Nature Center, a local Girl Scout troop has returned to make another lasting contribution for future visitors.
Between school and other extracurricular activities, CC Sullivan and Samantha White, two cadettes from Girl Scout Troop 1545, spent the last two months painting two large monarch butterflies and other critters along the trim of exterior gates to be installed at the entrance of the nature center’s parking lot.
The gates were sculpted by Paul “Dr. Duck Weber,” the artist behind several other pieces at the center.
In 2022, Sullivan was part of a group of junior Girl Scout troops who created a “butterfly nook” exhibit underneath the second-floor staircase in the nature center.
The butterfly nook is meant for younger children and includes facts and other reading materials about butterflies, a “cocoon” hammock seat and fun costumes.
After the butterfly nook’s success, which earned then-fifth grader Sullivan her Girl Scouts bronze award, the nature center called her and another troop member back to finish the gates for their silver award.
As part of their project, the two cadettes also researched milkweed, a plant critical for the survival of the monarch butterfly.
According to the National Wildlife Federation, monarch caterpillars feed exclusively on milkweed leaves, the species’ only host plant. Without milkweed, monarchs cannot complete their life cycle, and their populations decline.
“The population has decreased because people aren’t planting enough of it,” Sullivan said.
As part of their project, the two cadets are encouraging locals to plant more milkweed to help the monarchs thrive once again.
Now a seventh grader at Coastal Academy, Sullivan feels pretty good about leaving yet another mark on the nature center.