Planting milkweed to welcome migrating monarch butterflies

SALT LAKE CITY — Right now is the perfect time to plant milkweed seeds for incoming monarch butterflies. The once-abundant insect is being considered for the endangered species list, with the count of overwintering, or migrating, western monarchs coming in at 9,000. That’s the second-lowest count since tracking began in 1997, and well below the millions estimated from the 1980s. 

Related: How the Endangered Species Act has affected Utah’s wildlife

Founder of Utah Friends of Monarchs Rachel Taylor said climate change, pesticides and habitat loss have decimated the insect’s population.  “Years ago in the 80s, 70s … we had massive amounts of open fields and agricultural land all across the U.S. and as time has gone by, we’ve developed that,” Taylor said. “And you just look at the Salt Lake Valley or Utah in general, anybody who has lived here for a while could recall when we would see open fields.” The monarch caterpillars feed exclusively on the milkweed plant. “There are a number of species, probably about 17 different flowering species of milkweed that the caterpillars could eat throughout Utah, but those things are gone,” Taylor said. “We’re not putting them in our gardens and our neighborhoods … It’s concrete and asphalt buildings.” Taylor started planting milkweed in her garden 10 years ago, and since then, she hasn’t missed a year. “I can get them (butterflies) to my yard every single year.”

Supporting the monarch journey

“My little nonprofit is about teaching people and getting them access to the seeds,” Taylor said.  Milkweed seeds can be requested on the organization’s website.   “Our task is to avoid pesticides and things that we’re spraying in our yard as much as possible and then to add back native milkweeds and pollinator plants,” Taylor said. “Even if it’s just a chaotic corner of your garden that you want to turn into a wildflower garden, add a little milkweed, and it becomes a monarch garden.” Additionally,  the milkweed plant can be grown in a pot, making it possible for anyone with a porch or balcony to create a small waystation for pollinators.  “We’ve turned it into like a pollen desert with all of this building that we’ve got going on,” Taylor said. “And so, most of the large pollinator-related and monarch-related organizations promote (potted plants). You know, let’s get them out on the balconies.”

Is the monarch endangered?

In December, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced the butterfly met criteria to be considered for protection and is taking public comments on if they think it should be added to the threatened species list under the Endangered Species Act. The comment period is open until May 19.  Taylor compares the rapid decline of the butterfly to a canary in a coal mine, an indicator that all is not well in the world.  “The world isn’t going to come to an end if we don’t have monarchs anymore,” she said. “But it’s a good sign for what we’re doing to our earth in general.” She noted that 60% of the world’s food needs pollinators. “It really is kind of a chain effect of a bigger picture to what’s going on in our environment and what we’re doing to the world.” Salt Lake City’s Public Native Plant Program has a full list of milkweed varieties native to Utah that can be planted.