Do you know that the monarch butterfly is Illinois' State Insect?

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) reports that an 88% decline in the number of monarchs occurred in the U.S. Midwest from 1999 through 2012. At the same time, there was a 64% decrease in the amount of milkweed available. What is the connection here? Milkweed plants are the only source of food for monarch larvae. And female monarch butterflies only lay eggs on milkweed plants, even showing distinct preferences for certain milkweed species. Simply put (by IDNR), “If there is no milkweed, there will be no monarchs.”

The Illinois Audubon Society, the state’s oldest independent non-profit conservation organization, featured an article in their Summer 2024 issue written by Kay MacNeil, who describes herself on her website as a “seriously deranged lover of caterpillars and butterflies.” Titled Monarchs Need Milkweed, Kay, an avid naturalist and founder of the informational website Milkweed for Monarchs, offers a number of ideas to help increase the local and statewide availability of milkweed. Kay’s suggestions are listed below and her contact information is provided at the end of this article. Kay has also been a participant in CARE’s Seed Exchange held annually in the month of February.

1. If you see milkweed plants along a roadside, stop and collect some of the pods.

2. If you find yourself with extra milkweed seeds, don’t let them go to waste. Instead, send them on to Kay. A major goal is to re-seed roadsides and rights-of-way. She turns the seeds over to townships, park districts, and the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) — any agency that manages large tracts of land, especially those that might have to do less mowing if grass was replaced with milkweed plantings.

3. For only the price of postage, Kay will send you an adequate supply of milkweed seeds for planting up larger plots of land.

4. Fall is around the corner (Sunday, September 22, 2024 is the autumnal equinox). Have enough milkweed seed on hand to for fall plantings in the ground. You can even spread milkweed seeds on top of fluffy snow. The cold weather season gives time for the hard covering on the seed to soften so that a seedling can emerge in the spring.

5. Release milkweed pods into the wind by hand through a car window while traveling through less-populated or rural areas. Look for unmown stretches so that the milkweed plants have a chance to establish themselves. Out-of-the-way walking/hiking trails are also good spots for distributing milkweed seeds.

6. For $55, Kay will send you one hundred seed packets that you can hand out or even sell at your own events as a fundraiser.

7. Giving out milkweed seeds to the public for free is a key strategy in helping the monarch butterflies recover their populations. Coming up with unique ideas for events or venues to do this will get your creative juices flowing.

8. Kay has oodles of literature on her website. She encourages everyone to download and share these documents. You are free to modify them to include your own organizational logo and contact information.

9. Kay also has a YouTube video available on her website, a good option for kicking off a free educational event. It is used by grade schools and high schools alike in the area to teach students about helping the monarch butterfly population to recover.

10. To accelerate growing your milkweed, you can buy milkweed seedlings (plant plugs) instead of starting with seeds. Kay recommends Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) and Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa) as ideal for gardens in the U.S. Midwest. Two reliable online stores: Prairie Nursery in Wisconsin and Prairie Moon Nursery in Minnesota.

11. Let’s get social! Kay wants “milkweed in every garden,” and more “monarch friends,” so she asks everyone to publicly share her website address and her personal contact information on social media.

Visit the website of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to find out more about the reasons behind the severe decline in monarch butterfly populations in North America, and what conservation efforts are being done at the national level.

Kay MacNeil
689 Golf Club Lane
Frankfort, IL 60423
815-469-1294
kaymac60423@yahoo.com
https://milkweedformonarchs.info/

Join the Illinois Audubon Society to get your copy of Illinois Audubon Magazine four times a year. This worthy organization preserves strategic habitats by purchasing land for State and Federal governments.