Restoring Monarch Habitat
By:
Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)The iconic monarch butterfly is one of the nation’s most familiar butterflies. But it’s declining because of the loss of habitat (especially milkweed, the only food of monarch caterpillars) and pesticides. The core of the monarch butterfly’s migration route through America is through the Corn Belt and southern Great Plains, where much of the nation’s food and fiber is grown or raised. Farmers and ranchers are making butterfly-friendly improvements to working lands by managing for healthy stands of milkweed and high-nectar plants.