Monarch Butterflies in Trouble Photo by Susan Apps Bodilly

 

I have enjoyed watching monarch butterflies flitting about our prairie every year since we began restoring these several acres to prairie grasses, wildflowers

, and a considerable patch of milkweeds.  We began the prairie restoration project in the late 1960s.  Little did I know that the lowly milkweed would become one of the important plants that we have growing there.

I was dismayed to hear, back in July, that the monarch butterfly is now listed as endangered. Its numbers are declining to a point that if the trend continues the monarch will go the way of the passenger pigeon—we will see them no more.

The monarchs we see in Wisconsin migrate each year from their summer home in the north to their winter home in Mexico.  Along its journey north of several thousand miles, it breeds multiple generations of its offspring.  The monarch is the only butterfly to fly south before winter, and return north the following spring like many species of birds.

Why are their numbers decreasing to the point that the beautiful orange and black butterfly has found itself listed as endangered?  A major reason is the disappearance of milkweeds.  In the caterpillar phase, monarchs eat only the leaves of milkweeds.  Milkweeds are disappearing due to droughts, and herbicides used to control weeds in agricultural crops. According to researchers, climate change is also affecting the butterfly’s normal reproduction, and migration.

When I first heard that monarchs had been listed as endangered, my daughter and I made a tour of our prairie.  We counted more than a dozen monarchs flitting about our large patches of milkweed.  But not as many as I have seen in other years.  The monarch is endangered.  It’s time to take some action.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Plant a milkweed.  Save a monarch butterfly.

WHERE TO BUY MY BOOKS

See my book, OLD FARM: A HISTORY, for information about our prairie restoration.  By it  at your local bookstore, or buy online from the Wisconsin Historical Society bookstore, https://shop.wisconsinhistory.org/books, bookshop.org, or purchase from the Friends of the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose—a fundraiser for them. Phone: 920-622-3835 for prices and ordering, or contact the librarian: barnard@wildroselibrary.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984.
www.wildroselibrary.org

If you live in the western part of the state, stop at Ruth’s home town, Westby, visit Dregne’s.  and look at their great selection of my books. Order a book from them by calling 1-877-634-4414. They will be happy to help you.  If you live in northcentral Wisconsin, stop at the Janke bookstore in Wausau (phone 715-845-9648).  They have a large selection of my books.