{"id":7648,"date":"2017-02-15T21:12:00","date_gmt":"2017-02-15T21:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wisconservation.org\/?p=7648"},"modified":"2025-04-21T13:04:07","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T18:04:07","slug":"nrf-joins-national-effort-protect-monarch-butterfly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wisconservation.org\/nrf-joins-national-effort-protect-monarch-butterfly\/","title":{"rendered":"NRF joins national effort to protect the monarch butterfly"},"content":{"rendered":"\n[et_pb_section][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text]
\"monarch

Photo taken by Virginia Coburn at Bluff Creek SNA on a Foundation Field Trip<\/p><\/div>\n\nThe Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin is proud to announce our recent partnership with the Monarch Joint Venture<\/a> (MJV), a collaborative effort with more than 50 partners including government agencies, universities, and nonprofit organizations working to conserve, protect, and promote the monarch and its habitat throughout the country.\n\nThe monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus<\/em>) is arguably America\u2019s most recognizable insect. Despite its popularity, monarch populations have been reduced by a staggering amount\u2014researchers estimate that 80 percent of the eastern population (east of the Rocky Mountains) has been lost in the last decade.\n\nLoss of habitat, pesticide use, and climate change are just a few of the factors impacting the North American monarch population.\n\nWe want to ensure that our future generations can cherish the beauty of a monarch making its way south for the winter. Through our partnership with the Monarch Joint Venture, our Foundation has committed to conserving and creating monarch habitat throughout the state, while educating the public on the important environmental roles played by monarchs and other pollinators.\n\nWe hope you\u2019ll join our effort to protect monarchs\u2014here in Wisconsin, and across the country. While it\u2019s unlikely that the population will every fully recover, there are some simple things you can do right now to start making a difference.\n

Create\u00a0monarch habitat<\/h3>\nWisconsin is one of the many states across the country to which the monarchs return each spring to breed and lay eggs. The monarch is dependent on various milkweed species to lay these eggs, but milkweed plants are becoming increasingly rare throughout Wisconsin and other states in the Midwest.\n\nOne of the most important things you can do is provide habitat for monarchs to breed. While prairies and milkweed-rich wetlands are considered prime habitat for breeding monarchs, by planting milkweed in your own backyard, you help build a bridge to other habitats.\n\nIdentify areas that could be transformed into monarch habitat, like lawns or edges of your property. You can use native plant plugs or re-seed a small area with milkweed. Native plantings are not only good for monarchs, but have low long-term maintenance costs and provide other environmental benefits like water filtration and erosion control.\n\nSeveral types of milkweed are native to Wisconsin and attract to many species of butterflies, including monarchs.\n