Western Monarch Butterflies: Protecting Our Pollinators

A composite image featuring photos of butterflies in trees, on flowers, and in grasses.
Ian Nelson

January 14, 2026 | 5:30 pm

David Brower Center
2150 Allston Way, Berkeley

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January 14, 2026

Ian Nelson

Documentary filmmaker Ian A. Nelson brings his lifelong passion for wildlife and conservation to audiences through his film Western Monarch Butterflies: Protecting Our Pollinators, which follows the monarch’s extraordinary yearlong migration across the western United States. 

After witnessing the butterflies’ dramatic population decline firsthand, Nelson returned to their overwintering sites to document both their fragile recovery and the communities fighting to save them. His film weaves together stunning natural imagery and human stories to show why monarchs and all native pollinators are vital to ecosystem health, food systems, and cultural heritage. Protecting them is not only environmental work, but a collective act of stewardship.

Watch the trailer for Nelson's film

Western Monarch Butterflies: Protecting Our Pollinators | Teaser Trailer

Following the screening, we invite you to stay for a Q&A conversation between Nelson; David Ackerly, dean of the Rausser College of Natural Resources; and Peter Oboyski, PhD, distinguished senior museum scientist with the Essig Museum of Entomology.

Contact Info:

If you have questions about accessibility or require accommodations to participate in the event, please contact us at kdarling@berkeley.edu or (510) 241-8950.

About the Albright Lecture in Conversation

This event is part of the Rausser College Horace M. Albright Lecture in Conservation, a series that has inspired audiences for more than 50 years. Established in honor of Horace Albright—born in Bishop, California in 1890—this lecture pays tribute to his remarkable legacy as a 1912 UC Berkeley graduate, the second director of the National Park Service, and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, awarded by President Jimmy Carter.