CS47 – The Need for Monarch Waystations

How can you not love a tiny, gorgeous creature that flies from Mexico to Canada to keep its species on the Earth? Monarch butterflies are one of our most iconic insects. And they need our help. Join this entertaining speaker and outstanding scientist and learn how you can help.

• Habitat loss and climate change is a double whammy that monarch butterflies face.
• You can help by creating Monarch Waystations (monarch habitats) in home gardens, at schools, businesses, parks, zoos, nature centers, along roadsides, and on other unused plots of land.
• Monarch Waystations provide resources necessary for monarchs to produce successive generations to sustain their migration. Without milkweeds, monarchs are not be able to produce the numbers that culminate in the migration each fall. Similarly, without nectar from flowers, these fall migratory butterflies are unable to make their long journey to overwintering grounds in Mexico.
• Improving life for the monarch improves life for all pollinators.

Dr. Orley “Chip” Taylor is an insect ecologist. A champion of monarchs, he founded Monarch Watch (monarchwatch.org) in 1992, an outreach program for education, research, and conservation for monarch butterflies. Monarch Watch has tagged over two million monarchs so they can study their migration habits. The organization has done more to enlighten the world about the unique charms and challenges of the monarch butterfly migration than any other. In 2005, he created the Monarch Waystation program because habitats for monarchs are declining at a rate of 6,000 acres a day in the U.S. Dr. Taylor continues to mobilize citizen science and gardening support to restore the habitat needed to preserve this species.