Monarch Butterfly

Educational Articles and Videos

The Miracle of Migration
By: Conservation Blueprint
In this Habitat Tip, we look at the miracle that is associated with the annual monarch butterfly migration. It happens all around us, but you may have never fully realized just how incredible an event it really is.
Western Monarch Butterfly Conservation Plan
By: Western Monarch Working Group
Concurrent with the status review, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA) have actively promoted collaborative efforts across state, organizational, and landownership boundaries to address threats and opportunities facing monarchs and other pollinators.
Monarch Conservation Webinar Series
By: Monarch Joint Venture
The Monarch Conservation Webinar series is a collaborative effort between Monarch Joint Venture Partners and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Conservation Training Center.
Monarch Butterfly Tagging
By: Conservation Blueprint
It's that time of the year again ... time to celebrate the year's last generation of monarch butterflies as they prepare to migrate to central Mexico.& ...
How to Grow Your Own Milkweed
By: Conservation Blueprint
Milkweed is one of the best plants to have in your pollinator habitat — Conservation Blueprint's Pete Berthelsen shows you how to grow your own milkweed from seeds.
Pollinator Habitat Establishment and Management Guide
By: Bee & Butterfly Habitat Fund
The Bee & Butterfly Habitat Fund has produced a new guide that offers you step-by-step instructions and examples of how to produce great pollinator habitat.
Growing Milkweed for Monarch Conservation
By: Monarch Watch
As milkweed, the sole host plant for monarch butterflies, has diminished across the landscape, so have population numbers for the iconic butterfly.
Butterfly Gardens
By: K-State Research and Extension
Butterflies are fun to watch fluttering in the garden. To attract them, a butterfly garden should include a variety of plants, nectar for the adults, and plants that provide food for their offspring.
Monarch Garden Plants
By: Pollinator Partnership
The monarch migration occurs twice every year. Nectar from flowers provides the fuel monarchs need to fly. If there are not any blooming plants to collect nectar from when the monarchs stops, they will not have any energy to continue.
Site Planning for Butterfly Gardens
By: Natural Resources Conservation Service
People find butterflies a joy to watch, their brightly colored wings catching the sunlight as they flutter purposefully, yet unpredictably, from flower to flower.
Matching monarchs using citizen science
By: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
In order to conserve the monarch migration in North America, scientists need a thorough understanding of all aspects of this phenomenal journey.
Nebraska Monarch And Pollinator Conservation Plan
By: Nebraska Monarch and Pollinator Initiative
In order to develop an effective conservation strategy for monarchs and other insect pollinators, a team for this planning project reached out to stakeholders with the goal of being all-inclusive.
Prairie Parkland Temperate Province Planting Guide
By: The Pollinator Partnership
Our ecoregional planting guides, Selecting Plants for Pollinators, are tailored to specific areas of the United States. You can find out which ecoregion you live in and get your free guide Starting on Page 16 of the planting guides you can find lists of plant names that will attract pollinators and help you build beautiful pollinator habitat! Print these lists and bring them to your local native plant, garden center or nursery.
Great Plains Palouse Dry Steppe Province Planting Guide
By: The Pollinator Partnership
Our ecoregional planting guides, Selecting Plants for Pollinators, are tailored to specific areas of the United States. You can find out which ecoregion you live in and get your free guide Starting on Page 16 of the planting guides you can find lists of plant names that will attract pollinators and help you build beautiful pollinator habitat! Print these lists and bring them to your local native plant, garden center or nursery.
Great Plains Steppe Ecoregion Planting Guide
By: The Pollinator Partnership
Our ecoregional planting guides, Selecting Plants for Pollinators, are tailored to specific areas of the United States. You can find out which ecoregion you live in and get your free guide Starting on Page 16 of the planting guides you can find lists of plant names that will attract pollinators and help you build beautiful pollinator habitat! Print these lists and bring them to your local native plant, garden center or nursery.
Pollinator Plants of the Northern Plains
By: The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation
This guide features native plants that are highly attractive to pollinators and are well suited for small-scale plantings in gardens, on business and school campuses, in urban greenspaces, and in farm field borders.
Improving the monarch count
By: Joanna Gilkeson
Every year, monarchs from as far away as Idaho , Utah, Arizona and other Western states converge to spend the winter in tree groves along the Pacific coast and at a few inland sites.
Mowing and Management: Best Practices for Monarchs
By: Monarch Joint Venture
Understanding when monarchs are present allows land managers to time management practices like burning, mowing, grazing, or targeted pesticide application when they are least likely to harm monarchs.
Habitat Tip: Pumpkins, Pollinators, and Great Habitat
By: Conservation Blueprint
Conservation Blueprint's Peter Berthelsen explains how pumpkins and pollinators interact, in this seasonal Habitat Tip.
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