A college student visits the area on a 20-thousand mile trek to study milkweed. While many farmers want to rid the weed from their pastures, Megan Reich thinks it could be key to the conservation of monarch butterflies. The graduate student in Earth Sciences at the University of Ottawa in Canada, is writing her thesis on the ecology and conservation of monarch butterflies. Her research includes collecting and analyzing milkweed samples. Her project began in Texas on April 5 and will end on June 21 in New York following the northern migration path of the monarch.

She plans obtain milkweed samples from 120 sites along the way.