With the eastern monarch population near an all-time low, pollinator boosters are encouraging Oklahomans to pull out all the stops now as one of the critical states along the migration path of the iconic butterfly.
Spring migrators will begin arriving in South Texas next week, Oklahomans have until the end of the month or the first weeks of April to prepare.
“I know many feel disheartened at the news of the eastern migratory monarch overwintering numbers,” said Dr. Emily Geest, Oklahoma City Zoo’s postdoctoral fellow in conservation and science. “However, monarchs have had low numbers in the past and have rebounded before. With everyone working together to increase nectar and milkweed plants, monarchs can rebound again.”
What’s happening
Drought, primarily, is blamed for a 59.3% decline in the overwintering population, measured annually by the WWF-Telmex Telcel Foundation Alliance, in collaboration with the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas, the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve. It follows a 22% decline in the previous year.
Colonies covered .90 hectares this winter, the second lowest in recorded history and a reduction from 2.21 hectares last year. The season average for the dwindling population from 1994 to 2003 was 5.09 hectares. It has averaged 3.14 since then, according to Monarch Watch.
Drought conditions from southern Oklahoma to central Mexico reduced flowering plants and available nectar critical for migration and building fat stores for overwintering.
Oklahoma Monarch Society Director Katie Hawk said that aside from a love for the showy, large orange butterflies, watching the dramatic fate of these visible “canaries in the coal mine” is an important reminder that all pollinators are essential.
“Because they are a flagship indicator species, and we all love food,” she said. “One in every three bites we take includes something that requires a pollinator to grow.”
As fewer “first generation” monarchs arrive this spring, they will look for milkweed to lay eggs, and that reduced population can use all the help it can get, she said.
What to do
“There are a lot of things people can do right now to prepare for spring and for the whole season,” she said.
People can start germinating milkweed seeds to plant, and they can start looking for nurseries that supply native flowering plants that provide nectar and native milkweed that is free of pesticides, she said.
Now is the time to purchase plants or seeds for native flowering plants and shrubs that are also highly drought tolerant, she said.
Honeyvine, an aggressive native vine, is dispersing seeds now, and while some who like clean fences may find it annoying, it is part of the milkweed family and an essential plant for migrating monarchs, she said.
One completely effortless step is to skip mowing and forget about early-season herbicides. While the look is not aesthetically pleasing to some, yards that are littered with leaves and full of early-blooming dandelions, henbit, and violets should be all the rage this season, Hawk said.
“We need to learn to embrace those early bloomers and just let them be,” she said. “More and more people are turning to wild-scaping instead of traditional landscaping.”
She said plenty of resources are available to people who want to explore these options.
Where to learn more
Hawk’s nonprofit Oklahoma Monarch Society manages Okies for Monarchs, an educational initiative of more than 40 agencies, nonprofits, and Native organizations that comprise the Oklahoma Monarch and Pollinator Collaborative. The group’s website is a central point for all things associated with monarchs in this state.
Yard By Yard, the Oklahoma Conservation Commission's “community resiliency project,” offers tips on how to grow plants and where to find them and provides help with tips on ways to fend off weeds like sandburs and pests like mosquitoes naturally.
The national Monarch Watch Waystation program outlines ideas for a home, business, or community to create a certified waystation. Also, it offers access to a milkweed market that includes options for milkweed purchases for large restoration projects.
Another source for knowledge and registering your efforts is the Garden for Wildlife program, available through the Conservation Coalition of Oklahoma and the National Wildlife Federation.
All three of those programs offer a registration process and signage for your garden plot or yard, Hawk said.
“Those signs go a long way toward helping others understand you have a purpose for your yard and sharing that information,” she said. “Talk with your friends and neighbors, let people tour your place, and sew what’s blooming.”
Occasionally Home Owners Associations object to the appearance of yards that may look a little “bushy,” she said.
“People can reach us through Okies for Monarchs, and we are happy to come out and talk to HOA meetings or community meetings about what people are spraying and what it does to pollinators, how to landscape, and how you might increase habitat in your common area or park,” she said.
The Oklahoma Ecology Project is a nonprofit dedicated to in-depth reporting on Oklahoma’s conservation and environmental issues. Learn more atokecology.org
