Monarch News
Events
MonarchLIVE, A Distance Learning Adventure - Beginning October 2008
The annual migration cycle of the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) is one of the most spectacular natural phenomena in the world. Every year, millions of monarchs migrate thousands of miles from Canada and the United States to overwinter in the mountain peaks in the states of Mexico and Michoacán in Mexico. This magical journey, deemed an “endangered natural phenomenon,” is dependent on conservation of habitats in all three North American countries – United States, Canada, and Mexico.
During the 2008-9 school year, take your class on FREE live, interactive field trips that follow the magical migration of monarchs. Monarch curriculum materials that meet the national science education standards are available online to teachers. In February 2009, join us in Mexico where we will talk with scientist." studying monarchs and learn about local people who are preserving winter habitat.
Read the MonarchLIVE flyer (PDF, 1.7 MB) »
Register Now for MonarchLIVE »
National Pollinator Week - June 24-30, 2007
The Pollinator Partnership is proud to announce that June 24-30, 2007 has been designated National Pollinator Week by the U.S. Senate (S.Res. 580) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Resources are available on the Pollinator Partnership's website regarding Pollinator Week events happening across the country.
Pollination Stamp Series to be Released by the U.S. Postal Service on June 29, 2007
The U.S. Postal Service will release a four-design, 20-stamp Pollination booklet this summer. The four designs depict: two Morrison's bumble bees paired with purple, or chaparral, nightshade; a calliope hummingbird sipping from a hummingbird trumpet blossom; a lesser long-nosed bat preparing to "dive" into a saguaro flower; and a Southern dogface butterfly visiting prairie, or common, ironweed. The design emphasizes the ecological relationship between pollinators and plants and also hints at the biodiversity necessary to ensure the future viability of that relationship. The four designs are arranged in two alternate blocks that fit together like interlocking puzzles. In one block, the pollinators form a central starburst. In the other, the flowers are arranged in the center.
Newsletters and Releases
Hiawatha Hosts National Monarch Butterfly Workshop - July 2008
Workshop participants gathered beside Lake Superior.
The Monarch Conservation Techniques workshop was held on the Hiawatha National Forest June 3-5, 2008. This workshop, sponsored by the International Programs division of the Forest Service, was led by Forest Service biologist Janet Ekstrum and Forest Service plant ecologist Deb LeBlanc. The three-day workshop taught monarch larva monitoring and butterfly tagging techniques, native plant propagation and site restoration. The Hiawatha National Forest was chosen to host this workshop due to their nationally recognized monarch research project on the Stonington Peninsula and their native seed program and greenhouse in Marquette.
Read the Hiawatha Hosts National Monarch Butterfly Workshop Success Story »
Hiawatha National Forest's Monarch Butterfly Research Project Receives the Wings Across the Americas Award - June 2008
Wings Across The Americas award recipients.
On June 4, 2008, the Hiawatha National Forest hosted a reception to honor employees, partners and individual volunteers whose involvement in the Hiawatha National Forest’s Monarch Butterfly Research Project over the past 15 years has lead to the receipt of the prestigious Wings Across the Americas (WATA) Award.
Read more about the Wings Across America awards »
North American Monarch Conservation Plan - A Continental Approach to Conservation
Canada, Mexico, and the United States have joined to produce the North American Monarch Conservation Plan (NAMCP), a long-term cooperative agenda to conserve the monarch butterfly and its unique migratory phenomenon. Because the monarch and its migration depend on conservation of habitats in all three countries, this species has become a symbol of our shared environment.
Read more about the North American Monarch Conservation Plan »
Enhancing Pollinator Populations in Restored Prairie Habitats - Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie - 2007 Accomplishments
Restoring native habitats, such as tallgrass prairie, requires more than plants; reconstruction of a complete ecosystem requires all the elements, including pollinators. Without proper pollinators, many native wildflowers will fail to reproduce. Restoring pollinator populations requires providing more than a few native wildflower species; instead, there must be appropriate nectar sources present throughout the growing season, from spring through fall.
Read the report: Enhancing Pollinator Populations in Restored Prairie Habitats (PDF, 122 KB)
Peninsula Point Lighthouse is a Guidepost in Monarch Migration - September 2007
Today Peninsula Point is a NatureWatch and Watchable Wildlife Site - Michigan's "Point Pelee"-- where visitors and volunteers come to see and study the monarch butterflies (in late summer) that congregate near the Lighthouse, several hundred at a time waiting a favorable wind to cross Lake Michigan to the Door County Peninsula Wisconsin. (A great variety of shorebirds and upland spring and fall migrant birds also pass through!) But it hasn't always been this way.
Read the Peninsula Point Lighthouse Success Story »
Plant It and They Will Come - September 2007
Monarch caterpillars and chrysalis are found on milkweeds planted in native prairie and pollinator gardens at the Wayne National Forest office in Nelsonville, Ohio.
While maintaining newly planted prairie and pollinator gardens at the Nelsonville office, students Nick Galentin and Edward Entsminger came across some new visitors. These visitors were not of the two-legged form, but instead multi-legged variants eating milkweed leaves.
Read the Wayne National Forest Nelsonville Success Story »
Midewin and El Valor Celebrate National Pollinator Week 2007
The Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie celebrated National Pollinator Week on June 27, 2007, along with the El Valor Science and Technology Camp by planting a Monarch Butterfly Garden. This activity took place in a community green space in South Chicago.
Read the Midewin and El Valor Celebation Success Story »
Canadian Intern Boosts Monarch Conservation Program - July 2007
(Ohio, Canada) – "The trees are dripping with Monarch butterflies. From dusk until dawn, they roost on leaves and branches at the forest edge," Victoria Moran said, describing a scene at Point Pelee National Park, Canada, which is the last stop for Monarchs migrating south before reaching Lake Erie.
Moran is Canadian, and has beenparticipating in a 3-month international internship for the NPS [National Park Service] Park Flight Migratory Bird Program. Her internship is shared between Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Ohio, and Point Pelee. "These two parks, surrounded by urban and agricultural areas, provide veryvaluable green spaces for migrating species," said Moran.
At Cuyahoga, Moran developed in-depth plans for observing and conserving migratory species with an emphasis on birds such as warblers. She hopes the plans will become pilot studies,which will help us learn more about migrating species and the habitat they need to survive. "Cuyahoga already has many, knowledgeable volunteers who assist with bird and butterfly monitoring efforts. These citizen scientists are the glue holding the monitoring program together. My goal was to provide insights into strengthening these programs, which are so critical to preserving these beautiful species."
Monarch migrations are underway, but intensify in September and October. NPS contacts: Lisa Petit, 440-546-5970; Gerry Gaumer, 202-208-6843.
- A National Park Service "Parktip"
USDA Forest Service Monarch News - Monarch Garden Installed on Grand River Ranger District, Dakota Prairies Grasslands - June 2, 2007
Children from the local girl scouts and boy scouts, scout leaders, and staff of the Grand River Ranger District, Dakota Prairies Grasslands, Lemon, South Dakota, created a pollinator garden. The pollinator garden was planted to help protect the biodiversity of local pollinators to give us the chance to see butterflies, bees, hummingbirds and other friendly fauna. Many seeds were scattered to create a high density of diverse plants to attract pollinators. This garden will contribute to a healthy and sustainable future for generations of both pollinators and people! Almost 80% of all flowering plants rely on animal pollinators for fertilization, and about 200,000 species of animals act as pollinators.
Read the Complete Newsletter (PDF, 170 KB) »
Pollinating Wyoming - May 25, 2007
Oregon Trail Elementary (Casper, Wyoming) and the Bureau of Land Management celebrated National Pollinator Week early by planting flowers that will attract monarch butterflies. Forty fifth-graders from Oregon Trail Elementary school planted three butterfly gardens at the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center. The butterfly gardens are part of the Bureau of Land Management's "Hands on the Land" program, a nationwide endeavor to partner federal agencies with schools and get kids outside where they can receive environmental education.
Read the Casper StarTribune.net article »
Bureau of Land Management Monarch News - Monarch Gardens Installed at National Historic Trails Interpretive Center - May 24, 2007
Teacher, Janet Wragge, and 5th graders from Oregon Trail Elementary School and Gayle Irwin and Jason Vlcan National Historic Trails Interpretive Center, Bureau of Land Management (BLM), planted three monarch butterfly way stations at the Trails Center in Casper, Wyoming, on May 24, 2007. The 5th graders brought some of their own plants they grew at school using Monarch Way station seed kits. The kits include six varieties of milkweeds, and six general nectar plants. Milkweed is used by the butterfly larvae, and nectar plants are used by the adults. Thanks to these students, Trails Center visitors can now observe the colorful orange and black butterflies resting atop colorful native flowers in a beautifully planned garden.
Read the Complete Newsletter (PDF, 201 KB) »
Pollinators at Risk: Nation Unites for the Birds and Bees - October 2006
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC) hosted a symposium on October 18, 2006, to "to increase attention to the importance, and potential peril, of pollinating insects and other animals and the plants which depend on them for reproduction." The goal of the symposium was to raise awareness and to underscore the critical need for forethought and research to prevent a crisis in the pollinator world. The National Academy of Sciences (NAS), USDA, and the U.S. Postal Service each made major announcements to focus public attention on often unseen and yet vitally important interactions between plants and the pollinating animals that help them reproduce.
- Dr. Gene Robinson introduced the Status of Pollinators: Monitoring and Prevention of their Decline in North America, a nearly 400 page report completed by the NAS’s National Research Council (NRC).
- Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Chuck Conner announced the signing of a proclamation by Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns in recognition of pollinators and designating June 24-30, 2007 as National Pollinator Week.
- The United States Postal Service (USPS), represented by Washington, DC Postmaster Yverne Pat Moore, unveiled the intricate design for a commemorative stamp series highlighting the interconnectedness of nature and the process of pollination.
Complete North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC) Press Release (PDF, 30 KB) »