2016 Monarch Update

Let's all take a moment for some good news!  

Too often environmental work is all gloom and doom.  Today we thank everyone for all the hard work, milkweed planting, caterpillar rearing, fall tagging and public education efforts on behalf of America's best known butterfly, the Monarch. A little congratulations is due.

Monarch in Richland County, Ohio

When it was first reported in the 1990's that the migratory Monarch was headed for trouble, we hardly believed it.  After all, they were so... common.  Sixteen years later, there was an entire summer in which I did not see one Monarch. Didn't we all wish we had taken more photos of them when they were abundant?

We stopped taking them for granted. In fact, many organizations rallied around the Monarch, calling for change.

Monarchs headed to Mexico roost at Whiskey Island, Cleveland Ohio.
Photo by Chuck Slusarczyk, Jr.

Keeping tabs on a butterfly population is difficult work. Winter is the best time to assess Monarch populations,  The winged ones gather in the Oyamel firs in the mountains of Mexico, where the entire migratory population can be counted as they rest.

This year's news from Mexico is finally good.  The numbers of wintering monarchs is at a five year high. But one good year means very little in insect biology.  We can't afford to stop now,  the job is not done.

A full report can be found at http://monarchjointventure.org/news-events/news/population-numbers-for-eastern-monarchs-increase-during-2015-16-season.

These striped caterpillars are the larva form of the Monarch butterfly.

Monarch conservation is rather complicated. They have four distinct life stages ( egg, larva, pupa, adult) and each stage has its own hazards. They are impacted by insecticides and herbicides.  Lawn care chemicals and mosquito sprays also put the smack down on them. They are subject to winds and weather.  These critters cross two international borders, in spite of walls and guards.

The effort across the borders to protect wintering habitats, and plant milkweed has certainly been key to their rebound.

A native bee pollinates this Butterflyweed, Asclepias tuberosa.

Our efforts on behalf of the Monarch are likely to pay off for all pollinators. Increasing milkweed and other native plants along roadside corridors and in natural areas could benefit all types of insects. As we continue to improve conditions for Monarchs, let's also remember to limit the other activities which endanger them.  Lawn chemicals and excess mowing have become a way of life for suburbanites, but they are not compatible with our natural world.  We have seen the true cost.

We need to turn the pages of time back only to the fifties, where ditches were filled with flowers and milkweed reigned.  Children still played outside and bees buzzed as the butterflies bounced from flower to flower.  We chased lightening bugs at night.

Technology is great, but we need to decide if our chemically enhanced lifestyle is compatible to the health of the world in which we need to live.  The insects have been trying to tell us something.

"Bee" aware!

Natural catastrophes make for wondrous P.R.  

If ever a family of insects needed a public relations coup, it is our humble native bees. Not until the imported European bees which do much of the heavy-lifting, pollination wise, were dying in a "colony collapse" did native bees come to our attention.

 Bumblebees are just one of our native American pollinators.

Suddenly, the agronomists and scientists looked around and realized we would be in deep doo-doo without our pollinators!  In fact, we might only be in grass-fed animal doo-doo, since most grasses are wind pollinated.  But forget about all those fruits, vegetables and nuts we so enjoy, if there were no bees.

With the fate of European honeybees on the line, suddenly our native bees were getting a lot more respect.  Some scientists even noted we have not cataloged all the species of native bees right here in the U.S.!  We have been taking their work for granted much too long.  In fact, we now know that native bees keep honey bees more productive (with competition) and are picking up some of the slack for those manicured, cultivated, pedigreed bees.

Specific native bees have cultivated relationships with certain spring ephemerals.

This year, while we admire the spring flora, let's pay particular attention to the native fauna which pollinates it.  In past years I have noted tiny, cold-weather bees in their extra-fuzzy jackets, working the Spring Beauties and Trout Lilies.

These one-week-wonders seem to disappear after the first flush of spring.  As I recently learned at the Ohio Natural History Conference, studies show they DO disappear after a few weeks of work!  These insects must have some fascinating life cycle which permits them to be sustained with only a short-cycle of nectar gathering.

Nature has wondrous ways, if only we choose to see.

Butterflies (like this Monarch) also provide pollination services. 

If we are to discover the mysteries of collapsing colonies of honey bees and the stunning decline of  the migrating populations of Monarchs, perhaps we need to look no further than ourselves.  As we continue to "weed-and-feed" our lawn, "powder" (sounds much nicer than "poison") our roses and "dust" our vegetables, should we really be surprised that we are killing the very insects that attend to our plants needs?

It may be the greatest of human arrogance to believe we can continue to poison the species around us, without impacting our own health.


Here is an interesting follow-up story on pesticides and fauna, if you are so inclined.
http://focusingonwildlife.com/news/tag/steve-zack/

Getting Green on Lawns.

Winter may seem like an odd time to think about your lawn, but I assure you, it is the perfect time to re-think your strategies for that giant green nitrogen-junkie lying outside your front door.

As a one-upon-a-time professional landscaper, I know a bit about lawns. My kids used to call my property "Kingwood West".

It was bound to happen, my father was a lawn fanatic.  Your family played sports?  We watered, fed, mowed the lawn in "stripes"...

...and used chemicals, chemicals chemicals.  

But it doesn't have to be that way.  You can enjoy a patch of green and still have a life.  In fact, I submit you will have a better life if you knock off stressing over your lawn and just start enjoying it for a change.

Think about the time and money you have spent on keeping that junkie green, and consider some alternative options.  

That goes for your garden, too.   You can learn to manage your pest problems and have a healthier product in the end.  Maybe this is the winter you will start educating yourself on organic practises for your lawn and garden.

I will be teaching some of those practises to the Richland County Master Gardeners and the Richland County Men's Garden Club.  If you are interested in enjoying you lawn more and working less, join me at the Midwest Native Plant Conference in July.  You'll find a link to their website in my side-bar.
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Soon you'll be lounging around enjoying your spare time, or off chasing birds and butterflies, like me!

Whatever you choose to do with your newly found time and money, won't it be nice to know you'll never have to handle those chemicals again?