Monarch Butterflies
Monarchs are particularly remarkable because they migrate each year, flying from as far as Canada and across the United States to congregate at a few forested overwintering sites in the mountains of central Mexico and coastal California. Over the past two decades, monarch numbers in North America have declined, prompting the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to join state agencies, tribes, other federal agencies and non-government groups to identify threats to the monarch and take steps to conserve monarchs throughout their range.
North American eastern and western monarch migratory, breeding, and overwintering movements and locations
Map courtesy of USFWS, 2018In December 2020, after an extensive status assessment of the monarch butterfly, the USFWS determined that listing the monarch under the Endangered Species Act is warranted but precluded at this time by higher priority listing actions. With this finding, the monarch butterfly becomes a candidate for listing; the USFWS will review its status each year until they are able to begin developing a proposal to list the monarch.
In 2019 the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks, and Tourism (KDWPT) collaborated with individuals from ranching and farming organizations, conservation organizations, industry agencies, academia, and tribal nations (representing a total of 68 organizations) to set voluntary goals for the conservation of monarchs and other native pollinators. This led to the creation of the Kansas Monarch Conservation Plan, which centers on a 20-year objective to conserve, enhance, establish and create pollinator habitats on private, public, and urban lands through non-regulatory, voluntary efforts and actions across the state and serves as a guiding document to support ongoing efforts or new conservation actions.
View Conservation Plan Document
Kansas Monarch Conservation Plan's Focus Areas:
Kansas currently has a large monarch habitat due to native rangelands remaining in the state. These habitats can be improved in some areas. The overall goal for the grassland working group is to maintain, enhance, and conserve all the native rangeland remaining in Kansas, specifically the milkweed and floral resources.
The Grassland working group focuses on fire, grazing, and rangeland management practices that promote spatial and temporal plant diversity and habitat heterogeneity critical to monarchs, native pollinators, and many other wildlife species.
Goals:
- To conserve, maintain, or enhance monarch habitat on privately owned grasslands in Kansas.
- Provide additional outreach and education about monarch conservation needs and beneficial practices to grassland landowners and managers.
The Cropland Work Group acknowledges that cropland composes a large proportion of the land area in Kansas but believe there is room for targeted habitat restoration or conservation on many farms in the state.
The Group recommends using available conservation funding to assist landowners to target conservation practices where and how they will be most beneficial to meet the needs of wildlife and land management goals. This includes advocating for the targeted use of available Conservation Reserve Program acres and practices, as well as other state and federal conservation programs and efforts designed to provide beneficial wildlife habitat, build soil health, and improve air and water quality.
Goal: Maintain, enhance, and create monarch habitat within cropland systems to the extent possible.
* The K-96 Improvements Project falls within the Rights-of-Way sector, which include potential connectivity corridors linking larger areas of habitat. KDOT will work with KDWP to minimize impacts to available habitat when obtaining new rights-of-way and enhancing existing rights-of-way.
The linear nature of rights-of-way make them excellent potential connectivity corridors linking larger areas of potential habitat. The Rights-of-Way Work Group is committed to continuing to work to avoid/minimize impacts to available habitat when obtaining new rights-of-way and managing/enhancing existing rights-of-way to provide benefits to monarchs and other species native to Kansas.
Goals:
- Maintain native grassed right-of-way areas and minimize disturbance to existing prairies.
- Restore rights-of-way to native grass-forb communities, where appropriate.
- Influence right-of-way companies and agencies with outreach and education
Public buy-in is critical for the success of large-scale conservation efforts. With respect to monarch conservation, understanding and acceptance of the need for habitat may not be enough. Additional habitat for monarchs is not just needed in rural areas, and the species will be benefitted by increasing habitat available in developed areas.
Goals:
- Facilitate the use of native plants in landscape and greenscape projects.
- Facilitate outreach and education efforts within all Kansas Monarch Conservation Plan sectors.
Much more could be learned about monarch biology and ecology within Kansas. Work group members hope to support ongoing and future research and monitoring efforts for monarchs in the state. As new information becomes available, work group members is help distribute it to interested parties.
Goal: Increase our understanding of monarch biology and ecology in the state.