NRH Parks and Recreation is introducing a new Monarch Restoration Program in North Richland Hills. The goal of the program is to invite citizens to participate by providing waystations for monarchs to stop at on their migration route and to help with the restoration of the recently declining monarch population.
Each fall, hundreds of millions of monarch butterflies embark on an ambitious migration. They can travel more than 2,800 miles from the US and Canada to overwintering sites in central Mexico. The monarch migration is truly one of the world’s greatest natural wonders, yet it’s now threatened by habitat loss in North America.
Milkweeds and nectar sources for pollinators are declining due to development and the widespread use of herbicides in croplands, pastures and roadsides. The use of herbicides and chemicals in farms, cities and home gardens has also created a threat to the food source for these important members of the human food source chain.
What You Can Do
To offset the loss of milkweeds and nectar sources we need to create, conserve, and protect milkweed/monarch habitats. We need you to help us and help monarchs by creating "Monarch Waystations" (monarch habitats) in home gardens, at schools, businesses, parks, along roadsides, and on other unused plots of land. Without a major effort to restore milkweeds to as many locations as possible, the monarch population is certain to decline to extremely low levels.
The Value of Monarch Waystations
By creating and maintaining a Monarch Waystation you are contributing to monarch conservation, an effort that will help assure the preservation of the species and the continuation of the spectacular monarch migration phenomenon.
Visit www.nrhmonarchs.com and find out how to join the NRH Monarch Waystation Program.