Reprinted from Midwest Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies (MAFWA):
Seeking Public Comments on Draft of Mid-America Monarch Conservation Strategy
The Midwest Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (MAFWA) welcomes public comments through May 31 on a draft conservation plan that provides a blueprint for reversing the decline of the eastern monarch butterfly population. Click here to view or download a PDF of the Mid-America Monarch Conservation Strategy 2018-2038, and please direct all comments, questions, and suggestions to MidAmericaMonarch@gmail.com
Description of Strategy
Monarch Butterfly on a Blazing Star.
Photo by Ed Boggess
The core range of the eastern population of the monarch butterfly stretches beyond existing state and regional organizational structures, making coordinated conservation across state and regional lines challenging. The Midwest Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (MAFWA) has assumed a leadership role for monarch butterfly conservation in its mid-America range, which includes states in the Midwest and South-Central regions. MAFWA, in collaboration with National Wildlife Federation, Pheasants Forever, the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, and other partners, is developing a Mid-America Monarch Conservation Strategy that will provide a framework for implementing, coordinating, and tracking monarch conservation efforts in at least 16 states.
Monarch Butterfly on milkweed pod.
Photo by Ed Boggess
The purpose of the Mid-America Monarch Conservation Strategy (Strategy) is to facilitate cohesive, coordinated conservation actions necessary to recover the eastern monarch butterfly population through establishment of regional and state goals and strategies. The Strategy will identify actions at the state- and regional-level to enhance and sustain needed monarch habitat by adding milkweed stems and restored floral diversity to the American landscape east of the Rocky Mountains. The goal of this habitat restoration and enhancement is to support an average overwintering monarch population occupying six hectares in Mexico, as recommended by the Pollinator Health Task Force and the Monarch Conservation Science Partnership.
The Mid-America Monarch Conservation Strategy is bringing together multiple state, federal, private, and non-governmental partners to plan and implement voluntary conservation activities that will result in a healthy, robust North American population of monarch butterflies.
Strategy Participants and Partners
Monarch butterfly on milkweed.
Photo by Ed Boggess
The primary organizers of the Regional Strategy are state fish and wildlife agencies working with other agencies, local partners and landowners. The following states are participants in the development and implementation of the Strategy: Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Wisconsin, and the member states of the Northeast Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (NEAFWA) participating through the Association rather than through individual state wildlife agencies.
Monarch Butterfly on a Purple Coneflower.
Photo by Ed Boggess
Many governmental and non-governmental agencies and organizations are also participating in the development and implementation of the Regional Strategy. These entities include: Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, Keystone Group Monarch Collaborative, Midwest Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, Monarch Joint Venture, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, National Wildlife Federation, Northeast Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, Pheasants Forever/Quail Forever, U.S. Department of Agriculture (FSA &NRCS), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Geological Survey, and others.
- Q&A Messages for Mid-America Monarch Conservation Strategy
- Monarch Summit Guide (pdf)
- Mid America Monarch Conservation Strategy Members 2018
- Mid-America Monarch Conservation Strategy 2018-2038 (pdf)
Thanks, Dave Peck, for making me aware of this new plan for coming to the aid of monarch butterflies.
The strategy document is lengthy, but I found the sections on Urban Conservation & Engagement (Sec 3.6, p 102), State Summary Introduction (Sec 7.1, p 144, p 243-WI) and Urban Conservation Examples in the Mid-American Region (App D, p 291) enlightening. I had no idea there were so many different organizations and programs focusing on the conservation and management of monarch butterfly populations.
Throughout the document there were many references to the usual conservation efforts we expect in such strategy planning. However, I felt there were some very important pieces missing. This was my comment to MidAmericaMonarch@gmail.com:
Two groups I found missing from your strategy plan were non-Master Gardener gardeners and for-profit landscapers and landscape designers. Both of these groups will be critical to carrying out your plan with respect to urban conservation. Included in your membership should be representatives from one or more of the national garden clubs and the landscaper associations – and not just Ecological Landscape Alliance https://www.ecolandscaping.org/ You’ll need to sell the idea to the non-ecological landscapers.
At Wild Ones we found that educating/convincing people to plant native plants and specifically milkweed was relatively easy. But, convincing landscapers to use these plants was not. Nurseries will grow what landscapers want to use. If we can’t convince the landscapers to use milkweed in their plantings, nurseries won’t grow them. There’s no profit for them.
But I suspect this suggestion goes even further than landscapers – it goes to the higher education facilities that teach landscaping and horticulture. Landscapers learn to use non-native plants from their mentors. This is where one likely should start — Donna
The strategy document is lengthy, but I found the sections on Urban Conservation & Engagement (Sec 3.6, p 102), State Summary Introduction (Sec 7.1, p 144, p 243-WI) and Urban Conservation Examples in the Mid-American Region (App D, p 291) enlightening. I had no idea there were so many different organizations and programs focusing on the conservation and management of monarch butterfly populations.
Throughout the document there were many references to the usual conservation efforts we expect in such strategy planning. However, I felt there were some very important pieces missing. This was my comment to MidAmericaMonarch@gmail.com:
Two groups I found missing from your strategy plan were non-Master Gardener gardeners and for-profit landscapers and landscape designers. Both of these groups will be critical to carrying out your plan with respect to urban conservation. Included in your membership should be representatives from one or more of the national garden clubs and the landscaper associations – and not just Ecological Landscape Alliance https://www.ecolandscaping.org/ You’ll need to sell the idea to the non-ecological landscapers.
At Wild Ones we found that educating/convincing people to plant native plants and specifically milkweed was relatively easy. But, convincing landscapers to use these plants was not. Nurseries will grow what landscapers want to use. If we can’t convince the landscapers to use milkweed in their plantings, nurseries won’t grow them. There’s no profit for them.
But I suspect this suggestion goes even further than landscapers – it goes to the higher education facilities that teach landscaping and horticulture. Landscapers learn to use non-native plants from their mentors. This is where one likely should start — Donna
Good point to include professional landscapers in the plans to educate the public. They would be in a better than average position to influence what is planted.
Patty