Food for Flight supports pollinators
Studies show a decrease in monarch butterflies due in part to logging, climate changes that disrupt migratory patterns, and agricultural herbicides that threaten milkweed habitat — milkweed is the sole hostplant food source for monarch caterpillars and a nectar source for pollinators.
Habitat restoration is a goal of many land trusts, including Three Valley Conservation Trust in Oxford, Ohio. Its Food for Flight landowner outreach program supports migrating monarch butterflies and other insect pollinators.
Studies show a decrease in monarch butterflies, in part due to logging, climate changes that disrupt migratory patterns and agricultural herbicides that threaten milkweed habitat. Milkweed is the sole hostplant food source for monarch caterpillars and is a nectar source for pollinators. As a result, parks, nature centers and other public lands have been targeted as milkweed habitat restoration locations. But without private lands in the picture, there will be habitat fragmentation.
To encourage easement landowners and community members to participate in habitat restoration and preservation in a four-county area, TVCT distributed milkweed seed packages from the Cincinnati Nature Center. They also planted live milkweed plugs from Monarch Watch, a butterfly research group. And TVCT reached out to private landowners with TVCT easements on agricultural land or natural habitat to explore who would be willing to commit a portion of open ground for milkweed cultivation.
The Food for Flight initiative continues to attract new participants and extend partnerships.
"As word of this project spread, I found myself somewhat overwhelmed responding to inquiries by individuals and organizations requesting to join the effort. Today we have four additional community partners and have established over 130 new milkweed plots on private and public properties throughout southwest Ohio," said Randy Evans, the geographic information system and stewardship specialist for TVCT who initiated the project and is now a regularly featured speaker on monarch conservation and pollinator habitat restoration throughout the Cincinnati metropolitan area.
Another group that is reaching out to land trusts interested in helping ensure the survival of monarchs is the Pollinator Partnership. For more information about its programs, native planting guides, its work throughout North America and how you can help, visit www.pollinator.org.