I am pleased to introduce you to Youth Monarch Advocate Genevieve Leroux, featured on page 36.

Genevieve, began her work in monarch conservation at the age of 9, by creating her Jane Goodall Roots and Shoots project Milkweed for Monarchs, to save the Western migratory monarchs.

She was 11 years old when she convinced her California mayor to take the Nation Wildlife Federation’s Mayor’s Pledge. With the help of the city biologist, she was able to supply milkweed she herself grew from seed, to be planted throughout her hometown.

She was instrumental in getting the Mayor of Ottawa, and the Ottawa City Councillors to create an annual Pollinator Day starting in June of 2019. Also in 2019, she met with Mayor of Gatineau, to encourage him to take the Mayors Monarch Pledge. He committed to creating a more pollinator friendly city.

Genevieve, now 14 years old, works with Dr. Jane Goodall! In a meeting with her in September of 2019, Dr. Jane asked Genevieve to create a tri-national (Canada, US, Mexico) monarch/pollinator project. That group is called the Roots and Shoots Monarch Conservation Community.

Genevieve is a part of David Suzuki Foundation’s Patrouille Papillon (Butterfly Rangers) in Québec. Using her time during the quarantine for the greater good, Genevieve recently created her own YouTube channel “The Butterfly Girl” to create educational content for kids interested in helping save the Monarch Butterfly. Before the pandemic, Genevieve had been routinely speaking at local schools about her work with Monarchs; now she has begun to use social media like Instagram and a new Facebook group called “Milkweed for Monarchs” and will have a new website out very soon.

Genevieve’s citizen science activities include monarch tagging, and helping with the new Michigan Engineering M3 Monarch Migration study this coming Fall. Her dream is to become a nature documentary filmmaker. I’m betting that she will make this dream come true.