Today is Western Monarch Day! The Monarch Butterfly is a wonderful, far-traveling butterfly species. This annual event is held to celebrate the return of monarch butterflies to the central California coast as well as raise protection awareness. The monarch butterfly is facing a terrific decline in numbers that has lead to numerous conservation groups calling for it to be named and protected as an endangered species. Their migration can be tracked from north and east to south and west, and then back again. Amazingly, each leg of the migration takes four generations of the butterfly. Desire to conservation takes into account how much they pollinate, the fact that their long migration takes such a toll on their population, and the loss of their main food source due to human agriculture.
Want to help the monarch butterflies during their generational migration? One way is to share a little bit of your yard with them by planting milkweed. This plant is critical to their survival along their migration routes as it provides nectar AND is the only plant Monarch butterflies can lay their eggs in.