Midwest Fish & Wildlife Conference 2017

AUTHORS: Abigail Derby Lewis, Field Museum; Kristin Shaw, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

ABSTRACT: Monarch butterfly habitat—including milkweed host plants and nectar food sources—has declined drastically throughout most of the United States. Observed overwinter population levels have also exhibited a long-term downward trend that suggests a strong relationship between habitat loss and monarch population declines. Preliminary research results from a U.S. Geological Survey led effort indicate that we will need a conservation strategy that includes all land types to stabilize monarch populations at levels necessary to adequately minimize extinction risk—and urban areas will likely play a critical role. This strategy will need to reflect an integrated and interdisciplinary approach, one that includes ecological and social dimensions specific to an urban landscape.

Learn about the effort underway to develop the very first urban conservation design for monarchs along the central flyway. The overall project is comprised of four components, including: 1) development of an Urban Monarch Conservation Framework that identifies strategies and design elements for habitat creation and community outreach, 2) development of city-based landscape conservation design to guide actions for the monarch butterfly in four cities that provide benefits both socially and ecologically, 3) implementation of demonstration projects based on the city-based landscape conservation design, and 4) a workshop that integrates individual landscape conservation designs into a cross-regional approach. Insights into the urban landscape conservation design process to date, strategies for outreach and Monarch habitat designs at multiple scales, geospatial tools will be shared, and lastly find out how your city could be a part of the urban monarch conservation movement!