Love Butterflies? Trenton Does!
The town is pledging to help save them and you can help save them, too.
TRENTON—Towns and cities all around the American continent have been coming together to try to protect one of the area’s smaller creatures: the monarch butterfly. This week, the Trenton Select Board unanimously renewed the town’s pledge to protect the beautiful species with its distinct black and orange wings.
“I am pleased to report we have successfully completed our third year of the Mainers Monarch pledge,” Barbara Acosta told the select board members.
This work not only helps to revive monarchs, she said, but habitats and pollinators in Trenton. The town of approximately 1,500 people has small pollinator gardens on public land.
Trenton’s pledge comes at the same time as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) reopened a 60-day public comment period, which is meant to examine if the butterfly is likely to become extinct.
“Everyone can play a role in saving the monarch butterfly,” the FWS’ press release reads. “Because of the species’ general habitat use and wide distribution, all sectors of society have an opportunity to participate in a broad range of conservation efforts throughout the butterfly’s range.”
Five years ago, during President Donald Trump’s first administration, the monarchs were not given protection and were put on a wait list, given “warranted-but-precluded” status. That means that every year the administration would consider the butterfly’s inclusion.
In December 2024, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Martha Williams said, “The iconic monarch butterfly is cherished across North America, captivating children and adults throughout its fascinating lifecycle. Working together, we can help make this extraordinary species a legacy for our children and generations to come.”
In the meantime, towns and cities have been pledging to create butterfly habitat and to educate residents. In Trenton, residents have been planting milkweed and nectar-producing flowers on the town land and school land. Others have been planting on their own properties. It’s all about reestablishing the habitat.
In the last three decades, the amount of monarch butterflies has decreased by 80-90 percent. Thirty years ago, one billion would migrate to Mexico each year. Now there’s approximately 50 million, often less, making the annual trip.
Monarchs are pollinators, much like bees. They help keep fruit-producing plants from going extinct. And they are food themselves for birds and other small animals.
“Monarchs face habitat loss and fragmentation in the United States and Mexico. For example, over 90 percent of the grassland ecosystems along the eastern monarch’s central migratory flyway corridor have been lost, converted to intensive agriculture or urban development,” according to the National Wildlife Foundation. “Pesticides are also a danger. Herbicides kill both native nectar plants where adult monarchs feed, as well as the milkweed their caterpillars need as host plants. Insecticides kill the monarchs themselves. Climate change alters the timing of migration as well as weather patterns, posing a risk to monarchs during migration and while overwintering. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is currently reviewing the species’ status.”
There will be an educational workshop held in conjunction with the town’s parks and recreation department, June 28, as part of Trenton Days.
Acosta said that the Acadia Senior College course, “Creating a Pollinator Haven in Your Yard” that she’s offering about how to build habitat filled up twice within one-minute of registration.
Select board member Dan Monahan thanked Acosta and everyone for their work.
Action items involved in the pledge include: public communication efforts; engaging with gardening leaders; hosting (or supporting) a native seed or plant sale/giveaway/swap; collecting and propagating milkweed seeds; maintaining and/or increasing native milkweed and nectar-producing plants in the community; removing invasive species to support native habitat; and supporting or hosting a monarch butterfly festival.
HOW YOU CAN HELP MONARCHS ANYWHERE YOU LIVE
Some of the best ways to help monarchs is to plant nectar plants, native milkweeds, and eliminate pesticides. There are regional guides available about best native nectar plants and milkweed in different areas.
CREATE A WAY STATION
The U.S Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) suggests converting an apartment balcony or even a small patch of grass into a monarch way station. These way stations help the butterflies find food and shelter.
“Helping monarchs helps the wider ecosystem too. Your small actions can have big impacts on all sorts of pollinators, like native bees, moths and even other animals like birds. Tending a few potted plants, raised beds or a bigger space like your backyard, grows your sphere of influence in the natural world and helps to knit together a patchwork of greenways and habitat islands across the built environment. You can be part of something bigger than yourself and join a conservation team that spans North America and more than two decades,” the FWS writes.
AT THAT WAY STATION PLANT MILKWEED
According to the FWS, “Milkweed plays an essential role in the monarch lifecycle. In fact, milkweed leaves are the only food that monarch caterpillars eat. Did you know there are 73 different milkweed species native to the United States? Planting milkweed and other flowers native to your area is the perfect way to create easy to maintain habitat that helps a variety of pollinators.”
So, plant that milkweed in that grass patch or container and help fuel the Monarchs.
ALSO INCLUDE NATIVE FLOWERING PLANTS
In whatever area (or areas) you choose, you can also plant native flowering plants.
THINK ABOUT YOUR TIMING FOR BLOOMING PLANTS
Early spring bloomers that continue all the way through fall really can help the monarchs out. The FWS suggests “asters, blazing stars, and wild bergamot.”
KEEP THEM OUTSIDE
Because of the possibility of unintentionally causes the spread of monarch-harming parasites such as Ophryocystis elektroscirrha, U.S Fish and Wildlife Service recommends not bringing in monarchs to hatch.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
To find the right milkweed host plants for monarchs and companion nectar plants by zip code.
A pdf file from Rutgers about building better way stations with information on design.
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Thanks so much for helping get out the word about the plight of the monarch butterfly and how we can all do our part to help! Visit Trenton Butterfly Gardens at https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1BW72a1Ef7/?mibextid=wwXIfr