Monarchs have been in the news a lot lately. Overwintering populations are on the rise, but they have a long way to go before they return to the healthy numbers from decades past. You can help make a difference. Your town can join in the fight to save the monarch butterfly too.
Take Des Moines, Iowa for example. Recently, Mayor T. M. Franklin Cownie became the first in Iowa to pledge his support for monarch butterfly recovery as part of the National Wildlife Federation Mayor’s Monarch Pledge. Now, thanks to his pledge, more than 600,000 people in the greater Des Moines area can help expand this conservation effort and create a future filled with monarchs.
Through the Mayor’s pledge, cities can:
- Encourage residents and homeowners associations to plant pollinator or monarch gardens
- Revise mowing and milkweed planting programs in city parks
- Support native plant or milkweed seed sales or giveaway programs
- Convert abandoned lots to monarch habitat
- Plant milkweed and native nectar plants in median strips and public rights-of-way
- Integrate monarch conservation into the city’s master plans
- Adopt pesticide practices that are not harmful to pollinators
Restoring Iowa’s Monarch Flyway
Lots of people are working to help monarchs across the state of Iowa. The mayor’s pledge ties in nicely with work that we are doing with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and private landowners near the I-35 corridor - which roughly outlines the monarch’s migration corridor from Canada to Mexico. With seed revenue contributions to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources going to the most beneficial habitat locations, we were able to match our funds dollar-for-dollar and bring a targeted approach to our restoration efforts. Last year, these funds completed 50 projects that enriched 520 acres of prairie habitat for the Monarch Flyway in Iowa.
Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge near Des Moines is an anchor point for monarchs. Not only is the refuge a hub of education for local schools, it is also a huge propagation center for the monarch-friendly plants we are planting in Des Moines and other parts of the Monarch Flyway. Thanks to local volunteers and better utilization of greenhouses, our biologists are growing more than 30,000 native plants. Milkweed is one of these native plants and is the essential food source for monarch caterpillars at the start of the monarch life cycle. Also key to monarch survival are native nectar-producing plants like purple prairie clover, prairie blazing star, and bergamot that provide food for the adult stage.
“In Iowa, where there is very little public land, we need to work with partners to optimize habitat for wildlife. While most people don’t think of cities as providing wildlife habitat, for species like the monarch, every little bit helps, even down to the scale of a backyard or patio,” said Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge Manager Lance Koch.
Keep an eye out for our staff at local farmer’s markets and other events this spring and summer for free monarch-friendly seeds and plants!
Join an international movement!
We’ve been restoring the prairie and wetlands of the Midwest for decades, it’s a huge part of how we meet our conservation mission for the benefit of the American people. Monarchs make this different though - the difference is that monarchs use habitat across North America throughout their lifecycle. Restoring the monarch butterfly and its migration involves all of us, from Mexico and the United States, all the way to parts of Canada. With that in mind, we have been collaborating internationally on monarch conservation for the last decade.
More recently, President Obama created a federal pollinator strategy (PDF) to promote the health of pollinators in May of 2015. Monarchs were featured in this strategy, along with an ambitious goal of increasing the eastern population of monarchs to 225 million by 2020.
Get involved in your own backyard!
Join the People For Pollinators movement here in the Des Moines area. Last September, along with our partners at the Blank Park Zoo’s Plant.Grow.Fly Program, we started asking schools, businesses, and places with common spaces around the community to partner with us and plant a pollinator garden, and it’s working! We’ve held more than 40 planting events since then and our list for new events keeps growing. No matter what size space you have available, we can all make a difference together!
All you need are some interested volunteers, garden space, and a little time. We provide site-planning assistance, seeds and / or plants, educational materials to get your pollinator garden up and running, and expertise about maintaining your plants. All for free!
