Monarch butterflies begin their journey

The Monarch journey has begun!

Can you imagine a monarch butterfly, its beautiful orange, black and white pattern, weighing in at about half a gram, flying a 3,000-mile journey all the way to the forests of Mexico only to spend the winter and return the following spring? What an incredible journey.

Monarchs live in and migrate through Iowa, but their population is in decline and they need our help. A recent study using Monarch tagging data showed that a lack of milkweed plants is the key reason for their decline.

In response to this study, the Iowa Monarch Conservation Consortium is leading an effort to plant 830,000 acres of monarch habitat by 2038. The habitat they need is prairies full of milkweed and native flowers and plants.

The flowers in a prairie provide nectar for migrating Monarch butterflies and the milkweed feeds Monarch caterpillars. Here in Louisa County, we are working to help the Monarchs by providing habitat and participating in a citizen science project where we tag and then release the monarch butterflies that will migrate to Mexico.

The data recovered from monarch tags helps scientists study monarchs. During public programs, we catch the monarch butterflies in a prairie, tag them and then release them to continue their journey south. For schools, we need to rear the butterflies from an egg since our schools are not located in prairies.

Our journey to carefully gather eggs from milkweed plants and rear the monarch caterpillars for our tag and release school programs has begun. Louisa County is located at latitude 41 degrees where the monarch eggs, being laid from July 15-Aug. 20, on milkweed plants will become the adults that populate the migratory generation later in August and September. Peak migration dates for our latitude are from Sept. 8-20.

The reared caterpillars need fresh milkweed every day and are kept outside in a special screened cage so that they are acclimated to temperature changes and are hardy enough to fly to Mexico. We have several prairies in Louisa County, but the 4-acre Monarch Prairie at our office is where we gather the majority of the monarch eggs and milkweed plants needed to feed the caterpillars as they grow.

Over the last few years, almost every child in Louisa County has been able to witness tagging and releasing a monarch butterfly reared on the milkweed from this small but mighty Monarch Prairie. Nurturing an ethic of care in our children by caring about monarch butterflies could help save the species!

If you would like to be a part of Monarch butterfly research during peak migration, learn about the incredible journey these special butterflies embark on each year and witness one of the most spectacular natural phenomena in the world, join Louisa County Conservation for one or both Monarch Mania events on Thursday, Sept. 9 in the morning at Eden Park from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. or at Wilson Prairie from 4-6 p.m. Eden Park is located northwest of Columbus Junction at 17426 County Road X17, and Wilson Prairie is located northeast of Grandview at 10400 County Road G44X.

No registration is required for these free programs. All ages are welcome but children under the age of 16 need to be supervised by an adult. For more information about this event please visit LouisaCountyConservation.org, or find us on Facebook.

For more information about helping Monarchs and other beneficial insects thrive, visit MonarchWatch.org. Another wonderful site is Plant.Grow.Fly with the Blank Park Zoo. Visit https://www.blankparkzoo.com/conservation/plantgrowfly/ for more information.