Collaborating to Support Monarch Butterflies

Just a little over a year ago, a master gardener friend contacted me about supporting local schools to add Asclepias and curriculum around the disappearing habitat for Monarchs. Asclepias is the host plant of Monarch butterflies, which are in serious trouble.

Both the eastern and western monarch butterfly populations have experienced significant declines since the late 1990s. Scientists estimate an 80% reduction in the eastern population and 95% loss of the western population! Unlike the eastern monarch population, which migrates from central Mexico to Canada each year, the western monarch migrates from coastal California to inland locations to reproduce during warmer months.

Conservation actions may differ for the eastern and western populations, but in both cases, the devastating reductions are due primarily to human impact. Agricultural and residential development reduces monarch breeding and feeding habitat. Pesticides kill plants, such as host milkweed, as well as insects, including the butterfly larvae. Finally, climate change has interrupted migration patterns for both eastern and western populations. 

The wide geographic range of monarch butterfly migration makes conservation efforts an issue ‘everyone’ can get behind. In addition, the unique beauty and life cycle of the monarch butterfly make it a powerful ‘flagship species.’ To combat the unprecedented reductions in western monarch populations, The School Garden Doctor has been collaborating with a local schools and nonprofits to enhance schoolyard habitat.

Thanks to a generous donor investing in this issue, we’re installing a Monarch Waystation at Napa Valley Language Academy. A Monarch Waystation is a habitat dedicated to the feeding and breeding needs along the monarch’s migratory journey. It costs approximately $1,000 to install one Monarch Waystation.

Solano County RCD recommends a 2:1 ratio of nectar to milkweed plants¹. Based on nursery availability, nectar plants cost about $7-10 ea. ($550 per site) and milkweed plants cost about $10 (about $350 per site). An additional $100 covers the cost of other materials (irrigation, mulch, etc.). We started with the plants donated by our local chapter of the California Native Plant Society. We also reached out to Monarch Watch who donated 32 plugs of Asclepesis appropriate for California.

(See Waystation Kit Planting Guide.)

Schools are ideal locations for Monarch Waystations!² And who better to get the job done than participants in the Dirt Girls program? The garden committee and parent club of NVLA (CLASE) agreed to host a six-week pilot of Dirt Girls this spring. We’re three weeks into the pilot and our vision is coming along! The garden educator and I are co-leading the sessions with 15 eager students. And, one of our longstanding partners, the Napa RCD, is also supporting this monarch conservation effort by having their Kids for Monarchs educator join us!

We plan to monitor whether we have any monarch visits and hope to continue our efforts at other sites. We look forward to updating you in a few months. Until then, we’re writing grants and spreading the word to bring this opportunity to more schools.

Reach out to find out more or cheer us on in the comments below!

1. Waystation Planting Kit ↩︎
2. …Schools…Raise Awareness for Monarchs ↩︎