Make Way for Monarchs has published a new 20-page, full color report entitled “Monarch Recovery from a Milkweed’s Point of View: Milkweed Seed Supply Chains for Monarch Habitat Restoration”.
The authors include Gary Paul Nabhan, PhD, University of Arizona WS.K. Kellogg Program, Chip Taylor, PhD, University of Kansas/Monarch Watch and Ina Warren, co-facilitator of Make Way for Monarchs. Joan Carstensen Design of Flagstaff Arizona provided the memorable design, and Paul Mirocha of Tucson provided color illustrations.
The challenge before us is to successfully build collaborations for the largest habitat recovery initiative in American history. The team conducted interviews with numerous agencies, for-profit and non-profits regarding the hurdles we must overcome to achieve sufficient milkweed seed, plug and plant availability for monarch forage to rebound. The target set was for 4-6 hectares of overwintering grounds filled by high elevation oyamel fir forests of central Mexico.
Two striking maps are also included in the Report:
(1) Artist Paul Mirocha created a US map showing spring / summer monarch breeding areas overlaid by the growing use of glyphosate from year to year; it is the first map which graphically helps restorationists fathom the magnitude of restoration needed;
(2) A US map showing ecoregions that is linked to the best milkweed species to plant in each in order for assist highways of transportation seed buyers, conservation organizations and habitat restorationists in understanding the different seed transfer zones within their region.
Highlights of this report include:
• six major ways of protecting and better managing existing milkweed populations
• ten steps toward designing and managing the milkweed seed supply chain
• currently-available seed sources and their costs that can be employed to help specific Departments of Transportation access sufficient seed supplies for highway right of way restorations
• seven substantive groups that are potential sources of foundation seeds for DOTs
• seven regional areas in US and the milkweed species and targets for those areas
To conserve natural resources, the Report is being made available online and downloadable as a free PDF here:
To purchase printed bulk copies for training workshops for practitioners, please email Gary at gpnabhan@email.arizona.edu at least three weeks in advance of the planned event.
We hope you find the Report helpful and would appreciate your help in sharing the link, especially to Departments of Transportation in your area.
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