OutdoorNebraska

as caterpillars, many will still perish while birds learn about toxicity the hard way. Some succumb to insecticides or run out of milkweed to eat if there are too many caterpillars sharing only a few stems. Even as adults, survival is challenging. If they are the lucky monarchs to be born in late summer or fall when the milkweed is drying up, they must make the 3000 mile journey to Mexico for the winter. Weather, predators, cars, insufficient fall flowers (food) and the exhausting journey take their toll, so many adult monarchs simply never arrive in Mexico. Years ago when there was more milkweed around, enough monarchs survived to reproduce for the next year, but with so few remaining, nationally people are racing to prevent their extinction. Across the Corn Belt, scientists have determined that 1.6 billion stems of milkweed need to be added to the landscape to recover the monarch butterfly and prevent their extinction east of the Rocky Mountains. Nebraska's part is 125 million stems, and reaching this goal will require help from anyone that can plant milkweed. The good news is that scientists have also calculated that it only takes about 30 stems of milkweed to get one monarch butterfly to Mexico, so whether you have a small back yard or a large ranch, you can make a difference. If you have added milkweed to Nebraska's landscape, make your milkweed count and add them to our milkweed tracker at http://outdoornebraska.gov/milkweedtracker/ ✔ b f O ne hundred twenty five million stems seems like a lot of milkweed to feed monarchs, but that may be how many more milkweed stems we need in Nebraska to recover the monarch butterfly. It seems like an astounding amount for such small creatures; how much could they possibly eat? You may be surprised. A monarch caterpillar can consume an entire milkweed leaf in about 5 minutes. They have to be voracious eaters because they must gain 2000x their original hatch size in about a month. Each individual caterpillar certainly consumes a staggering amount of milkweed, but to bring monarchs back from a 90% drop in their population, we need to increase their population by hundreds of millions. This large number is needed, because monarchs face many threats. Even though they become toxic to predators by eating milkweed By Kristal Stoner, Wildlife Diversity Program Manager, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission Is Nebraska's Monarch Showy milkweeds offer rose-colored flowers for nectaring monarchs and large oval, blue-green leaves for their hungry caterpillars. N By Kristal Stoner Wildlife Diversity Program Manager Becoming Extinct? To recover the monarch butterfly, scientists have determined that Nebraska will need to plant 125 million stems of milkweed, and reaching this goal will require help from anyone that can plant milkweed. 7

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