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No later than - Wednesday, April 23, 2025, noon.
Please note we will be holding an in memoriam as part of the
Friday, April 25, 2025 Rotary Meeting for Glenn MacGregor Davis.
Keynote Speaker: Donald Davis, Chair, Monarch Butterfly Fund
Topic: Travels with the Monarch
Host: Past Club President, Neil Phillips
Rotary Toronto Meeting Friday, April 25, 2025
Lunch at The National Club, 303 Bay Street, Toronto
Views and Opinions Expressed Disclaimer: The views and opinions are those expressed by the Speaker and do not necessarily reflect the official views or opinions, policy or position of The Rotary Club of Toronto or its Members.
Biography
Don Davis is a native of Northumberland County and has been studying and tagging monarchs as a citizen scientist since 1967. Renowned Canadian researchers Dr. Fred Urquhart and his wife, Norah, were his early mentors. For 40 years, he has participated in the annual Monarchs and Migrants Weekend at Presqu’ile Provincial Park, while also participating in numerous monarch-related programs including Monarch Watch and Journey North. Don is particularly interested in supporting monarch activities organized by junior field naturalist clubs and classrooms. Scores of his tagged monarchs have been recovered across eastern North America including Mexico.
Over the years, Don has attended conferences and workshops about monarchs in Canada, U.S.A. and Mexico; written about monarchs; contributed to documentary films, including the award-winning IMAX documentary Flight of the Butterflies. In January 2025 Don was interviewed by Matt Galloway on CBC radio’s The Current.
Don is the Chair of the Monarch Butterfly Fund, an American non-profit organization, and is a Life Member of Ontario Nature. Don has served on the Canadian Monarch Recovery National Technical Committee and is attending Zoom meetings of the Trinational Monarch Conservation Science Partnership to revise the North American Monarch Conservation Plan (2008) he was part of developing. Don will attend the 2025 International Monarch Summit in June 2025 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Don retired in March 2017 after working for 40 years with children and families in mental health, correctional, and child protection settings. He resides in Toronto, visits Northumberland County weekly, and is a member of Willow Beach Field Naturalists and Toronto Entomologists’ Assn.
When you work to conserve and protect this “Flagship” species, you also benefit numerous other species of flora and fauna. With climate change, we must now review our goals and priorities. Don last visited the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Mexico in 2008.