Monarch Watch Milkweed Program Provides Food and Shelter for Migrating Butterflies and Inspiration for Kids

Milkweed plant grant program is supported by One Day One KU.

How do you inspire a child to dream? Monarch Watch Director Kristen Baum thinks the answer is pretty simple: butterflies.

“I haven’t met a kid who doesn’t like butterflies,” Baum explains with a laugh. “’If we can get more kids around butterflies, they will get excited and start exploring science more.”

Monarch Watch is hoping the University of Kansas community will help fuel imaginations and the monarch population on One Day One KU, February 20-21 from noon to noon. Private support will help make possible the distribution of milkweed, a crucial effort to expand and restore vital monarch habitat.

Because of their critical role as pollinators, monarch butterflies and their annual migration across North America are essential for many ecosystems to thrive — yet monarch populations have declined 85% in the past two decades. Much of this is due to monarch butterfly habitat disappearing from the landscape. Milkweed is the only food source for monarch caterpillars and an important nectar source, so planting it across the nation is a crucial step in combating monarch population declines.

Since 2010, KU’s Monarch Watch program has distributed more than 1 million milkweed plants, helping fill in habitat gaps for migrating butterflies while also supporting other pollinating insects. Baum says when a species is declining, habitat is the first need to address. Thousands of acres of monarch habitat are lost every day to new development in the United States. Baum says milkweed is also removed from agricultural land, roadsides and other areas through herbicides and mowing.

“There are well-documented declines in monarch populations from year to year, so we need to get more plants in the ground as milkweed is the only plant that monarch caterpillars can feed on,” Baum says.

The milkweed program provides free native milkweed to schools, nonprofits and habitat restoration projects throughout the monarch’s breeding areas in the United States. Participating schools also engage with Monarch Watch educational activities such as learning about the monarch life cycle or tagging monarchs. Support during One Day One KU is essential to getting more plants into more habitats.

“Public support is essential to everything we do,” Baum explains. “We can do a lot with smaller donations to support the milkweed project, which amplifies our work and powers our ability to get more milkweed into more areas.”

Monarch Watch was founded at KU in 1992 by Dr. Orley "Chip" Taylor, and its monarch habitat or “waystation” program launched in 2005. Monarch Waystations are specifically designed with native milkweed and nectar-producing plants to sustain monarch reproduction and migration. Monarch Watch provides guidelines for individuals to create their own waystations. There are now more than 49,000 registered across the U.S. and in 12 countries and territories — the first one being located adjacent to Monarch Watch on KU’s West Campus. Baum says the goal is to reach 50,000 Monarch Waystations in 2025.

All Monarch Watch programs are informed by extensive research. Baum says the milkweed program targets documented gaps in habitat, with the goal of providing more consistent resources for the butterflies. Monarch Watch also coordinates a volunteer tagging program that helps define the migration window, as well as the timing and pace of the migration. Donations made to Monarch Watch through One Day One KU will help provide additional milkweed for the grant program.

Baum says every new milkweed planting and Monarch Waystation is another way Monarch Watch educates people about the needs of monarchs and other pollinators, and ultimately, helps support their populations.

“Whether it's simply education or somebody planting a Monarch Waystation at their house, it’s spreading the message,” she says. “Getting other people involved in the program expands our reach and KU’s reach — outside the state and even internationally.”