Montana’s First Tropical Butterfly House and Education Gardens Coming to Missoula


Missoula Butterfly House & Insectarium and Healthy Acres Healthy Communities Foundation announce $5 million campaign to create the state’s first tropical butterfly house and premier education gardens.

Today, the Missoula Butterfly House & Insectarium and Healthy Acres Healthy Communities Foundation announce their $5 million capital campaign to build the premier center for scientific learning in Missoula. Thanks to the generosity of a $350,000 gift from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust and a $1 million anonymous gift, plus the support of several other regional philanthropists, the organizations’ Join the Buzz campaign has raised $3 million of its goal. 

The Rocky Mountain Gardens & Exploration Center is the long-planned dream of the people behind the Missoula Butterfly House and HAHC Foundation, the philanthropic partner of the Missoula County Weed District & Extension. A partnership that was first created to expand plant and pollinator curriculum with the local schools will soon culminate in a one-of-kind destination for Missoula and the region. Jen and Glenn Marangelo, founders of the Missoula Butterfly House, and Jerry Marks, Missoula County Extension agent, and their teams have been collaborating since 2018 to solidify their public-private partnership to create the home of Montana’s first tropical butterfly house and 2.5 acres of premier education gardens. The Center will also offer demonstration kitchens, a greenhouse, plant lab and classrooms at its location in Midtown Missoula at the Missoula County Fairgrounds. 

“Our campaign has been fueled from the very beginning by local community members and organizations who believe in this project to create a new destination for Missoula, a place where we inspire connection with our natural world and each other,” said Glenn Marangelo, co-founder and development director of the Missoula Butterfly House. “All along, even through the pandemic, we have felt the support from people who believe that this is an important project for Midtown, for Missoula and for our state.”

The nonprofit organizations have been quietly fundraising since 2019. A lead gift of $1 million by an anonymous donor was received in the early months of the campaign, and several other generous gifts by local philanthropists and foundations,including the Murdock Charitable Trust and Bill and Rosemary Gallagher Foundation, soon followed.

“We are honored to support organizations like the Missoula Butterfly House & Insectarium, which inspires tomorrow’s leaders with creative, innovative, hands-on learning opportunities that seek to engage the community with the natural world,” said Steve Moore, executive director, M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust. “This center will provide premier scientific education programs and opportunities for both youth and adults in Western Montana.”

The long-planned dream
Marks has envisioned a center for hands-on community learningin Missoula since visiting an education garden in Wyoming in the early 1990s. The County Extension agent, who celebrated 50 years with the MSU Extension Office in 2019, has worked with his team at the Weed District & Extension, Missoula County Commissioners, the Missoula County Fairgrounds, the HAHC Foundation and the Missoula Butterfly House to create something bigger and bolder than he first witnessed — a place that connects people of all ages to the land and builds lifelong stewardship for the Western Montana landscape and appreciation for the plants insects that make it thrive.

“Missoula has a long history of rural traditions and innovation in farming practices and land management backed by a community that knows what we have here is precious,” said Marks. “Now, we get the opportunity to expand our educational programming with new generations of people right in urban Missoula.” 

Likewise, Jen Marangelo has dreamt of a tropical butterfly house in Missoula for more than 15 years. Working from the late 1990s to mid 2000s with Dr. Doug Emlen, renowned evolutionary biologist at the University of Montana, and the elementary students she visited as an expansion of their work, Jen Marangelo saw how incredibly excited children were about insects. Her idea for a butterfly house and insect museum for Missoula hatched, and she transitioned from staff to student at the University of Montana to earn a master’s degree in Museum Exhibit Design and Curriculum Development. The Marangeloslaunched the Missoula Butterfly House & Insectarium in 2009, with the long-term goal to build a tropical butterfly house and insectarium.  

“Insects make amazing subjects for teaching a wide range of scientific topics. As more people understand insects, the fear is erased and the fascination begins,” said Jen Marangelo, co-founder and executive director of the Missoula Butterfly House. “Being able to teach children and adults inside the setting of a tropical butterfly house is life-changing to their understanding of the eco-system. Then they can go outside to the education gardens and see the vital role insects play in their own world.” 

The Marangelos and Marks will celebrate their friendship and accomplishments with their closest supporters at the groundbreaking of the Rocky Mountain Gardens & Exploration Center on Friday, May 14. The nonprofits will continue their fundraising efforts as building progresses. Community members can learn more about the project and donate to the Join the Buzz Campaign at JoinTheBuzzMissoula.org. 

About Missoula Butterfly House & Insectarium
The Missoula Butterfly House & Insectarium is a 501c3 nonprofit and the only organization in Missoula with the sole educational focus on insects and their arthropod relatives. Its programs offer hands-on, interactive experiences with live arthropods that build curiosity for and awareness of the invaluable role these species play in the health of our ecosystems and in our own lives. At the Rocky Mountain Gardens & Exploration Center, the nonprofit will be home to a year-round tropical butterfly house filled with free-flying butterflies from around the world and variety of insect exhibits. 

About Healthy Acres Healthy Communities Foundation
The Healthy Acres Healthy Communities Foundation is a 501c3 organization dedicated to creating an engaged community that cultivates vibrant, thriving urban and rural lands for future generations by providing philanthropic support to the programs of Missoula County Weed District & Extension. 

About Missoula County Weed District & Extension
The Missoula County Weed District and MSU Extension Office work to provide sustainable solutions to complex natural resource and land management problems that address the needs of the public in the areas of land management, youth development, and family and consumer sciences. Their programs promote sustainable horticultural and agricultural practices, interest in and awareness of local food sources, and expand nutrition education for limited income families and children. The organization leads the county 4-H program, has been the catalyst for school gardens, produced hundreds of Master Gardeners, and contributed to the growth of local farmers’ markets and locally grown produce and other crops. The Weed District & Extension along with the HAHC Foundation will be the stewards of the education gardens at the Rocky Mountain Gardens & Exploration Center and will offer their expansive services and programs throughout the facility.