The Minnesota-Wisconsin Field Office, located on the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge, had a summer of incredible monarch encounters. The summer started out with restoring areas around the field office using native pollinator nectar and host plants, including species of milkweed for monarchs. Milkweed is the only plant that monarch caterpillars can eat, so milkweed is needed for there to be monarchs. The whole office, which is located on Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge, joined a group of youth volunteers to get involved with planting and removing invasive species. The payoff was almost immediate, as monarch butterflies began laying their eggs on the milkweed within a week. Staff at the field office monitored and recorded monarch eggs and caterpillars throughout the season for the citizen science project, the Monarch Larva Monitoring Project. It was exciting to see how quickly new habitat can be used by a species!

 

Read more»

 

 

---