Grasslands Help Monarchs

by Margot Hardy

If further justification is needed for APC’s work to restore the Barbara Barnes Hale Preserve to full-meadow status, it’s a recent reminder from the World Wildlife Fund of the importance of habitat, for food and reproduction, to the Monarch Butterfly. Years ago, you could sit on the ocean beach on a warm September day and marvel at the clouds of the brilliant orange creatures in almost endless streams fluttering past on their way south, migrating to central Mexico. Not so in recent years.

The WWF reports that the most recent migration was a record low and states that, while “small-scale logging in Mexico and extreme weather conditions across the continent are driving the decline … the main factor is most likely the near-extermination in the US and Canada of milkweed.”

The Barbara Hale meadow used to provide a profusion of milkweed (asclepias syriaca) and the cheerful orange butterfly weed (asclepias tuberosa), enjoyed by other species of butterflies as well. Returning the preserve to true meadow status will not only protect it but also support the continued existence of the beauty of butterflies.