Help the Monarchs

Background

Across North America, populations of the iconic Monarch Butterfly are in steep decline. The brilliantly-coloured Monarch is a summer breeder in many areas of southern Canada, and most Canadian-born adults head to the highlands of central Mexico to overwinter. It takes four to five generations of Monarchs to make it to Canada during the spring migration. In 2016, the Committee for the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) listed the Monarch Butterfly as Endangered.

The population decline is likely due to a combination of threats: habitat loss, use of herbicides and pesticides and climate change. Monarch require both milkweed (the host plant of the Monarch caterpillar) and other wildflowers (a source of nectar) across the breeding range and migration routes.

The Canadian Wildlife Federation believes that there are thousands of hectares of potential habitat for pollinators available that could make a difference to Monarchs in Canada. Much of this potential habitat is already in public hands, such as parks, roadways and rights-of-way. The methods to create and manage meadow habitat are well known and tested in areas outside of Canada. Restoring meadow habitat is relatively inexpensive, and managing it over the long term could actually save millions of dollars. As such, we formed a partnership with the National Capital Commission, HydroOne, and Lanark County to experiment with various restoration methods.

Program Overview

CWF is working to create and restore breeding and feeding habitat for Monarchs and other pollinators along public roadsides and rights-of-way (e.g. hydro-lines and pipelines). Supported by the Ontario Trillium Foundation, we are working on a pilot project with Hydro One, Lanark County and the National Capital Commission (NCC) to create Monarch habitat on rights-of-way in eastern Ontario.

Program Lead

Carolyn Callaghan

My work focuses on the conservation of species at risk in Canada. I am interested in understanding the factors that put species at risk and then determining how to reduce the impact of these factors to recover populations. My team and I look for compatibility with farming practices and business practices on roadways and rights-of-way with the recovery of species at risk. We study a variety of species currently listed under Canada’s Species at Risk Act, including Western Chorus Frog, Monarch Butterfly, and more recently, grassland bird species such as Bobolink and Eastern Meadowlark.

“If we work together to restore meadow habitat in private and public lands, we can make a difference for the recovery of the Monarch Butterfly.”

Holly Bickerton

Holly Bickerton is an ecologist and botanist in Ottawa, and has worked for the conservation of many rare species. Holly and Carolyn Callaghan, CWF’s Senior Conservation Biologist for Terrestrial Wildlife, are working together to build partnerships with corporations and government agencies that maintain vegetation on linear corridors to recover the Monarch Butterfly.