Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas

Loss of grasslands to farming and development means fewer “refueling stations” for monarchs during their migration. Master naturalist and writer, Rob McCorkle, says when homeowners living along the butterfly’s migratory route plant milkweed they provide food and habitat for adults and their young.

13— There are different milkweeds in Texas – there are about three predominant types of milkweed: antelope horn, green antelope horn and zizotes is the third one. They’re now becoming more available.

Grasslands aren’t the only monarch habitat disappearing. Logging of fir trees in Central Mexico where monarchs overwinter has severely reduced their roosts. So why provide food and shelter along their migration route if in the end, there’s no place for them to hibernate?

27— That is a good point. The Mexican government in collaboration with the US and Canada have formed a trilateral commission that has studied this impact for several years now. And they’ve taken steps to limit logging and protect the remaining habitat – and have had some success. A single monarch female can lay 300 to 400 eggs. So, the potential is there for the population to rebound to some degree.

Find links to follow monarch’s migration route, learn about installing a monarch friendly garden, and more at passporttotexas.org.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife, I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Monarch Migration Routes:
http://www.learner.org/jnorth/maps/monarch_spring2014.html
Butterfly Garden:
http://www.monarchwatch.org/garden/