2025 Monarch Tagging
Thank you for applying to volunteer with the City of Des Moines Parks and Recreation! We are so excited you want to join our team of over 5,000 volunteers helping Des Moines Live Well, Play Hard, and Protect the Earth.
A background check is required for the volunteer role you are applying for, as it involves direct interaction with youth and vulnerable members of our community.
Monarch Tagging:
Volunteer to assist Environmental Educator, Joel Van Roekel, from Des Moines Parks and Recreation in a free monarch tagging event.
Monarch tagging is a great way to get the public involved and excited about monarch butterflies and what conservation practices Des Moines Parks and Recreation is taking to help the monarch butterfly. Most people know what a monarch butterfly is, but they do not always know that the number of monarch butterflies in the wild has been dropping drastically since the mid-1990s.
Join the movement of volunteers across North America who tag monarchs as they migrate through on their way to Mexico. These tagging programs are a local part of a larger citizen science project that has been going on since 1992 to better understand the dynamics of the monarch’s spectacular fall migration. Last year more than a quarter million tags were used by volunteers!
*Volunteers must be adults (18+) or 16-17 with parental approval.*
Volunteer to assist Environmental Educator, Joel Van Roekel, from Des Moines Parks and Recreation in a free monarch tagging event.
Monarch tagging is a great way to get the public involved and excited about monarch butterflies and what conservation practices Des Moines Parks and Recreation is taking to help the monarch butterfly. Most people know what a monarch butterfly is, but they do not always know that the number of monarch butterflies in the wild has been dropping drastically since the mid-1990s.
Join the movement of volunteers across North America who tag monarchs as they migrate through on their way to Mexico. These tagging programs are a local part of a larger citizen science project that has been going on since 1992 to better understand the dynamics of the monarch’s spectacular fall migration. Last year more than a quarter million tags were used by volunteers!
*Volunteers must be adults (18+) or 16-17 with parental approval.*