(Ames, IA) -- Iowa has been steadily adding new monarch butterfly habitat. The Iowa Monarch Conservation Consortium formed in 2015 when reports began to surface about declines in monarch populations. The consortium is made up of a wide range of public and private entities, with a goal to improve populations.
The group recently released its Monarch Conservation Effort Report, which offers a snapshot of monarch habitat establishment through 2020 in all 99 counties across the state.
Iowa State University Natural Resource and Ecology Professor Steve Bradbury says the report shows across the state 450-thousand acres of new monarch habitat has been established in the past couple of years. He says that's about half-way toward their goal of nearly 800-thousand by 2038. The habitat has been established on public and private lands.
The monarch butterfly is migrating this time of year. Milkweed is the only plant the female will use for egg laying. Bradbury says establishing milkweed is critical but other plants and flowers are useful to provide a food source for butterflies.
Bradbury says people have different reasons for increasing butterfly habitat. He says some want to increase monarch populations, others enjoy the habitat patches, others see an advantage for beneficial insects, game birds and songbirds, others see the benefits of the conservation practices as being a part of efforts to improve water quality.