Monarch Butterfly

If you guys have any questions about conservation, organic gardening, what to plant for butterflies and etc... You are welcome to ask here...

Monarch news in US:

U.S. agency sidesteps listing monarch butterflies as endangered Despite severe declines in their numbers, insect will not get federal protection—yet

Some of my monarch shots - time to update the page photo :)

Something I found that caught my interest. USDA launched a conservation effort program in 2015 to aid the efforts to protect monarch habitats. The assistance is available to farmers in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas and Wisconsin. Most efforts will be put into Midwest sub-region which had the most impact on monarch populations (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Wisconsin).

"On May 19, 2015, the National Strategy to
Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators was released. This document provided three
overarching goals, including one specific to monarch butterflies:
Increase the Eastern migratory population of the monarch butterfly to 225 million butterflies
occupying an area of approximately 15 acres (6 hectares) in the overwintering grounds in Mexico
through domestic/international actions and public-private partnerships, by 2020..." (https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2015/05/19/announcing-new-steps-promote-pollinator-health.)

Here is the full article describing the program in more details and how it applies to monarchs and how to apply: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/national/newsroom/releases/?cid=nrcseprd414821
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If you are a farmer in any of these states - please consider checking out the program. If you are a private citizen - then just plant some milkweed and keep harmful chemicals away from your garden whenever possible, especially host and nectar plants. I also hope the program is still in place (it seems like it is) and hope it won't get nuked by the new administration. We need programs like this to encourage and help farmers to participate in conservation efforts.

USDA launches new conservation effort to aid monarch butterflies | NRCS KANSAS CITY, MO, Nov. 12, 2015 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced a new conservation effort to help agricultural producers provide food and habitat for monarch butterflies in the Midwest and southern Great Plains. This targeted 10-state effort by USDA’s Natural Resources...

It never hurts to help other flying creatures while helping monarchs! Check out this page to see if you can snag some wildflower seeds to plant in your garden for free!

http://m.mentalfloss.com/article.php?id=93227

Cheerios Is Giving Away 100 Million Wildflower Seeds to Help Honeybees Sign up for a free packet of 500 wildflower seeds.

What can YOU do to help preserve monarch population here in US? Take a look at a few steps outlined by Monarch Watch from Monarch Preservation Report.
Things like growing milkweed, following chemical free gardening practices, maintaining sources of nectar plants are still at the top of the list. Perhaps talk to those neighbors you are friendly with :) that would be willing to partner with you on similar practices!

http://monarchwatch.org/blog/2017/01/17/fwsnrcs-conservation-plan/

FWS/NRCS Conservation Plan Restoring habitat for any species is complicated and requires a great deal of thought and lots of research to establish best practices. The following “plan” and set of guidelines was issued last Fr…

Would you like to receive some FREE milkweed seeds to grow in your garden and attract monarch butterflies to your yard?

Here is how. Amazing folks at Save Our Monarchs offer you free milkweed seeds (25 seeds per packet). You can request up to 3 packs for free, based on availability. Click the link to their store below and for those of you that are able - consider making a donation, even thou the seeds are free.

http://www.saveourmonarchs.org/store/c4/Get_Seeds.html?gclid=CjwKEAiAgavBBRCA7ZbggrLSkUcSJACWDexAVXZM0_0NVCrzYIdFldhSEGUtHPUc6xe7H6qSvLUSGRoCQS_w_wcB

Note: You can also receive seeds by sending them a self-addressed stamped envelope to:
Save Our Monarchs
P.O. Box 390135
Minneapolis, MN 55439

Thank you from monarchs for planting more milkweed!!

www.saveourmonarchs.org

This year we had a few more monarchs but still not as many coming thru. This is one of the reared monarchs I am releasing before heading off to work.

Certify Your Garden

Monarch Numbers Increase, But Work To Restore Butterflies Is Not Over | U.S. Fish and Wildlife... Web site of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Monarch butterfly migration to Mexico jumps after years of decline The insects covered over three and a half times more wintering grounds than last season, as diminishing milkweed and illegal logging has disrupted movement

Please, no commercial posts on this page. This page has been set up for the purposes of raising awareness about monarch conservation. Therefore, any helpful advice, news, articles on gardening for butterflies are welcomed! Any posts with solicitation of non-related products will be removed. Example of related product posts allowed: sale or trade of milkweed seeds or plants, monarch tagging labels sale, nectar plant/seed sale, rearing supplies sale and such. We welcome your posts that raise awareness or share gardening tips or questions! Monarchs thank you for your conservation efforts, organic gardening and dedicating a place for some milkweed in your garden!