GENTRY -- While many may not know it, milkweed plants are critical to the numbers and survival of the monarch butterfly -- the large butterflies with brilliant orange and black wings seen in our area in the warmer months. And the decline in milkweed due to farming practices and urban development is thought to be directly related to the decline in numbers of monarch butterflies across North America.
According to Terry Stanfill, area conservationist and wildlife photographer, the monarchs which migrate into our area go through several reproductive cycles, using native milkweed as host plants for the process before the final generation of resulting butterflies of the season migrate to Mexico for the winter and then return to continue the cycle again the following spring.
And, since milkweed is a critical part of the process -- the monarchs laying their eggs on the plants and the caterpillars using the plants for food before becoming cocoons and producing new butterflies which also use the blooms for nectar -- Stanfill and others are working to replant native swamp milkweed at Eagle Watch and wherever possible across the region to increase the numbers of monarch butterflies.
A friend of Stanfill's, Cindy McWilliams of the Marble area, planted some of Stanfill's milkweed and ended up with more caterpillars than milkweed, so she and her husband David took a two-hour drive to bring the caterpillars to the Eagle Watch Nature Area and place the caterpillars on the swamp milkweed Stanfill has growing there.
Stanfill called Cindy McWilliams a "most amazing friend" in a Facebook post on Sept. 5, explaining, "I met Cindy and David at the Kingston square earlier this summer and gave her milkweed plants. She had a caterpillar that produced a butterfly; then she had more caterpillars than she had plants to feed them. I met her and David in Huntsville yesterday to take her what plants I had left to give her. She messaged last night and said the cats needed more food. She and David drove the two-hour trip from the Marble area to the Gentry Eagle Watch to personally transplant 32 monarch cats to their new home on swamp milkweed we have established at the Eagle Watch. What a blessing for the monarch!"
Cindy posted, "The last few days have been bittersweet. Knowing I wouldn't have enough milkweed plants to accommodate 34 monarch caterpillars, yes, that was the final total, I had to make a decision on what to do for them. Finding them another home or let them die because of lack of milkweed were my only choices. With the help of Terry Stanfill, we decided to relocate them at the Eagle Watch in Gentry. Even with the extra plants from Terry yesterday, only two plants had some leaves left this morning. I decided to keep two caterpillars and removed the other 32 from the plants and placed them in a small pet container. Terry and I placed all 32 on different milkweed plants at Eagle Watch. They now will have a chance at life as a monarch butterfly in the near future. It was a good feeling to get them a new home but it was a sad thing knowing I couldn't provide for them and watch them through their next stages of life."
She continued her post: "When David and I got home, only one caterpillar was on the remaining plants. I was devastated but, after an extensive search, we found (the missing caterpiller) climbing up the log siding of our house. I suppose it was looking for milkweed. I kept the two biggest because it was nearer time to move to the chrysalis stage and would require less food. They have already begun slowing down."
And, it's not only the McWilliams and Stanfill who are making extraordinary efforts to save the monarch butterfly from a slow demise to possible extinction. The effort is spreading and mayors and other officials are becoming involved.
In the spring of this year, Gentry's mayor, Kevin Johnston, took the National Wildlife Federation's pledge to save the colorful insect.
"In May of this year, I took he Mayors' Monarch Pledge," Johnson wrote in an email. "As a part of this pledge, I am committed to implementing at least three of the action items that can be found at www.nwf.org/mayorsmonarchpledge. With the assistance of Terry Stanfill, manager of Eagle Watch Nature Trail, Janie Parks, executive director of the Gentry Chamber of Commerce, and Gentry High School students along with their teacher, Wendy Jackson, we were able to plant swamp and orange milkweed plants at the Flint Creek Nature Area to help promote habitat for the monarch butterfly as one of those action items. I am hopeful that we will be able to accomplish at least 8-10 of the items listed," he wrote.
"As we work towards honoring this pledge, we hope to better educate the community on the importance of the monarch butterfly and the many other pollinators," Johnston said. "As reported by the USDA, 'three-fourths of the world's flowering plants depend on pollinators to reproduce. Most fruit, vegetable and seed crops -- and other plants that provide fiber, medicines and fuel -- are pollinated by animals. Some scientists estimate that one out of every three bites of food we eat exists because of animal pollinators like bees, butterflies and moths, birds and bats, and beetles and other insects.' As we continue to grow, we cannot forget our roots as being a prominent provider and producer of many crops in this region and nationally. Without pollinators, the success of our local crops will deteriorate, which will likely make us more dependent on others to produce for our own needs," Johnston wrote.
The work of saving pollinators such as the monarch does not always require the kind of extraordinary efforts like the McWilliams or of Stanfill. Much can be accomplished simply by taking the time to plant flowering plants in one's yard for the pollinators and avoiding using sprays which kill bees and other useful insects. And, of course, if you wish to see more monarchs, you might wish to plant some milkweed in your flowerbeds and gardens, too!
General News on 09/19/2018