MONTICELLO — Monticello resident Michael Felton is to appear before the City Council on Tuesday to explain why the milkweed plants on his property are a benefit to the planet and the community rather than the nuisance asserted by a complainant. Felton, who has been growing milkweed at his home for more than 10 years, said he considers his appearance before the council — at 6 p.m. at the Renaissance.
MARION — The launchpad is prepared for a pair of projects aimed at making Linn County the epicenter of both monarch butterfly production and the habitat they and other pollinators need to sustain themselves. “We are engaged in a couple of ‘moonshots’ that will help us accomplish our mission to restore the monarch population and habitat for all pollinators in Linn County,” Clark McLeod, director of the Monarch Research Project,.
Gov. Mark Dayton issued broad new guidelines Friday designed to restrict the use of a controversial pesticide that has been implicated in the decline of honeybees and other pollinators. Standing in the Agriculture-Horticulture building at the State Fair, next door to an exhibit hall filled with live bees and honey jars, the governor said his executive order would make Minnesota a leader in protecting pollinators. “We can show the nation.
We launched the Monarch Mania website in February to provide information and education on helping pollinators and creating gardens for them. Our goal was to register 50 gardens in our first year, and we surpassed that goal with 54. Registered gardeners were provided with a certificate and an attractive Monarch Mania sign to post in their garden. Funding was provided to the following area schools to create pollinator gardens: Mason.
As most of you know, the summer of 2015 produced a strong migration and a relatively large overwintering population (4.01 hectares). To place this population growth in context, let’s review the last several years. The population declined following each of the three growing seasons from 2011-2013. There were aspects of each season that account for these declines. For example, the temperatures from March through August in 2012 were warmer –.
Depleted monarch butterflies and honeybees could get a boost from Iowa farmers over the next few years, thanks in part to lower commodity prices that have prompted landowners to shift more than 100,000 acres of row crops into habitat for creatures vital to pollination. Over the past four years, Iowa farmers have enrolled 127,005 acres in a federal conservation reserve program designed to sustain butterflies, bees, wasps, birds and bats.
With the declining number of monarch butterflies migrating north through the central United States, USDA is offering an incentive to agricultural producers in Iowa to help increase monarch breeding habitat. Agricultural producers who want to increase habitat for monarch butterflies on their land now have opportunities to receive funding for conservation practices that attract monarchs. The monarch butterfly population has declined in recent decades and is undergoing a status review.
Young participants of the YMCA’s summer day camp planted swamp milkweeds in their pollinator garden on Wednesday, July 20. Following a presentation about monarch butterflies by the Lime Creek Nature Center, approximately 80 milkweeds were planted by children of all ages.
This series of four photos shows the Hoover Elementary pollinator garden as it was created this spring. The final step will be to add mulch. A lot of hard work and an awesome garden – great job Hoover Elementary!!
Staff members at Roosevelt gather in the courtyard after school to plant a butterfly garden. The “Sara Powell Memorial Butterfly Garden” is planted in honor of friend and colleague Sara Powell. Each staff member was able to place a planting in the garden in memory of Sara. The plants, landscape fabric and mulch were donated by Lime Creek Nature Center and the design, layout and digging of the garden was.
On June 15 Cub Scouts from Pack 4153 planted 240 swamp milkweed plants at the Lime Creek Conservation Area in a plot just north of our butterfly garden north of the parking lot. This “monarch waystation” will provide food for monarch caterpillars and seed for future plantings. Today we found our first caterpillar munching on milkweed in the plot (picture). Thank you Pack 4153 Cub Scouts!
Dr. Karen Oberhauser gave a presentation on monarch butterflies recently at the Lime Creek Nature Center. Karen Oberhauser is a Professor in the Dept. of Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology at the University of Minnesota, where she and her students conduct research on several aspects of monarch butterfly ecology. Her research depends on traditional lab and field techniques, as well as the contributions of a variety of audiences through citizen.