My role will be to talk about monarchs and to take everyone to “butterfly school” much as I do when we have our tagging day at the Baker Wetlands in Lawrence each September. However, we will touch on other pollinators as well and at some point while trying to explain insect vision you may see me pretend to be a praying mantis.

But, the real point of this communication is to tell you that Kristy Liercke, one of the organizers of this event, wanted me tell you that there are small grants available for people who wish to start Monarch Waystations / pollinator gardens at schools.

The maximum grant amount is $500 and the deadline to apply is December 3, 2010.

In her words she asked me to

“spread the word that the project has grant money for gardens. So if you have people needing a little money to start Monarch Waystations, please have them apply.”

Complete details (including additional grant opportunities) are available at:
Project Learning Tree GreenWorks! Pollinator Garden Grants

We have big plans for this season and we need your help on several projects:

1. MONARCH WAYSTATIONS

We need to increase the number of registered Monarch Waystations by at least 1,000. There are now 1,871 registered habitats in the Monarch Waystation Registry and this number needs to grow given that we are losing 2.2 million acres of habitat per year due to development. As we’ve said before, we need you to help us market this program. Please show your Monarch Waystations to others and direct people to our web site. Your efforts will help educate the public of the need to protect habitats for monarchs and other wildlife.

2. HABITAT OBSERVATIONS

We need your to help us track the phenology (seasonal progression) of milkweeds and nectar plants. We will have a series of announcements describing how you can participate in this program in the coming weeks.

3. MONARCH OBSERVATIONS

Please report the first monarch you see this spring. We need a larger number of observations of first monarchs to determine how well the spring migration is synchronized with the growth phases of the milkweeds.

4. DEGREE DAY LOGGING

In future articles we will demonstrate how to record growing degree days for both milkweeds and monarchs in our Monarch Waystation. We hope that these demonstrations will encourage more of you to use these simple devices to learn more about the relationships between temperature and growth and development.

5. MONARCH TAGGING

Another tagging season will be here soon but it is not too soon to urge you to order your tags now. Again, we will limit the number of tags to 200,000 and once these are gone, they’re gone. So, do order early to avoid being disappointed.

Tagging Kits and other materials are available via the Monarch Watch Shop online at Shop.MonarchWatch.org

Each kit includes seeds of twelve varieties of milkweed (monarch host plant) and general nectar sources along with a detailed “Creating a Monarch Waystation” guide. Seeds come in individual packs (15-30 seeds each) printed with planting and other information.

The Standard Monarch Waystation Seed Kit includes (appropriate substitutions may be made due to seed availability):

BUTTERFLY WEED (Asclepias tuberosa)
SHOWY MILKWEED (Asclepias speciosa)
COMMON MILKWEED (Asclepias syriaca)
SWAMP MILKWEED (Asclepias incarnata subsp. incarnata)
SWAMP MILKWEED (Asclepias incarnata subsp. pulchra)
TROPICAL MILKWEED (Asclepias curassavica)
FLOSS FLOWER Blue Horizon (Ageratum houstonianum)
PURPLE CONEFLOWER (Echinacea purpurea)
TITHONIA TORCH Mexican Sunflower (Tithonia)
COSMOS, Dwarf Sensation Mix (Cosmos bipinnatus)
JOE PYE WEED (Eupatorium purpureum)
VERBENA (Verbena bonairiensis)

The California Monarch Waystation Seed Kit includes (appropriate substitutions may be made due to seed availability):

BUTTERFLY WEED (Asclepias tuberosa)
SHOWY MILKWEED (Asclepias speciosa)
TROPICAL MILKWEED (Asclepias curassavica)
PURPLE MILKWEED (Asclepias fruticosa)
SWAMP MILKWEED (Asclepias incarnata)
SWAN PLANT (Asclepias fruticosa)
FLOSS FLOWER Blue Horizon (Ageratum houstonianum)
PURPLE CONEFLOWER (Echinacea purpurea)
TITHONIA TORCH Mexican Sunflower (Tithonia)
COSMOS, Dwarf Sensation Mix (Cosmos bipinnatus)
JOE PYE WEED (Eupatorium purpureum)
VERBENA (Verbena bonairiensis)

Be sure to check out all of the information about our Monarch Waystation conservation initiative on our website. Thank you for your support!

Weeds resistant to Roundup are showing up in many areas of the United States. On the 20th of August 2007 National Public Radio aired a report on this topic by Dan Charles (“Farmers Switch Course in Battle Against Weeds”).

When I wrote the June 2004 article, 15 weed species in Argentina were notably resistant to Roundup. According to Dan Charles’s report there are already 13 Roundup resistant species in the United States. We are catching up fast.

Curiously, the use of Roundup is changing the composition of weed communities due to selection that favors species that are naturally resistant to Roundup such as lambsquarters, velvetleaf, giant ragweed, and Asiatic dayflower. Other species, with genetic variants that are resistant to Roundup, are increasing as well. This scenario may apply to wild parsnip, pokeweed, evening primrose, and horseweed – species that are showing up in row crops, a habitat in which they had previously been relatively uncommon.

*Note: Genetically modified seeds for major crops are now the rule, not the exception. In 2007, 92 million acres of corn were planted and of these 61% had been genetically engineered to express Bt toxins to kill or inhibit several types of insects, to resist Roundup, or both. Of the 64 million acres of soybeans planted in 2007, 91% were Roundup Ready. Due to the soy/corn rotation, my interpretation is that we’ve lost at least 100 million acres of milkweeds in these row crops since the first Roundup Ready plants were brought into production in 1996. This is an increase from my earlier estimate of a loss of milkweeds in 80 million acres of row crops. If you find milkweeds in corn or soybean fields, take a picture – it’s now a rare sight.

The growth of the Monarch Waystation Program is clearly dependent on publicity but the publicity has to be at the right time and right place. One year we placed an advertisement promoting Monarch Waystations in a magazine for birders. The cost was not insignificant. Although the publication has a good circulation, the response was very weak. Given this experience and our extremely limited budget, advertising is out of the question and we have to rely on articles about our program in newspapers and magazines to get our message to the public. Last February an article on our program and Monarch Waystations appeared the gardening section of the San Francisco Chronicle:

“Gardeners save the day as butterfly habitats disappear”

The response to this article was overwhelming and in a matter of a few days we had orders for over 1,000 California Monarch Waystation Seed Kits. Articles in Midwest Living, Mother Earth News (“Relief for Weary Monarch Butterflies“) and the Chicago Tribune also generated good responses. However, we can’t count on the media to inform the public of this program every year so we are asking all of you to help spread the word. A number of people with Monarch Waystations have helped promote the program through contributions to online forums and through blogs. Others hand out literature at public events and during educational programs. Bob Morton (Monarch Waystation #613) has a sidewalk garden where he displays the Monarch Waystation sign to which he has attached a “take” box containing brochures describing the value of creating habitats for monarchs. All of these methods are great ways to get the public’s attention. Please help us spread the word!

Our special thanks to all who have participated in this program. We appreciate your continued support of Monarch Watch and monarch conservation.