Pollinators...
Continued from page 1
exposure, disease, predation, and changing climate.
The monarch's plight is bringing attention to other
pollinators as well.
Conservation workers, government organizations,
non-government organizations, agricultural groups,
businesses, and educators met to express their ideas and
concerns for monarchs and other at-risk pollinators at
a summit in Lincoln, Nebraska in 2016. Discussions
that took place at the summit are serving as the basis
for a statewide pollinator conservation plan. Action
items will include the planting of native milkweeds,
which are the only food for monarch larvae in both
urban gardens and high-diversity prairie. Diverse
blooming flowers are also needed from spring until
fall to sustain adult monarchs. The summit oriented
Nebraskans, and served as a launching point to expand
conservation efforts. With partners communicating and
in many cases working collaboratively, we may be able
to restore monarch population levels to a stable size,
and prevent this iconic butterfly from disappearing
throughout much of the United States. ✔
Monarch caterpillars feed on
milkweeds. A reduction in the
number of milkweeds is a primary
reason the population of monarchs
is declining.
2
Meeting for monarchs: a group gathers in Lincoln, Nebraska for a
summit to draft a conservation plan for monarch butterflies and
other at-risk pollinators.
PHOTO
BY
REGAN
GILMORE
