One of the projects we’re especially excited about at Ponderosa Paradise is working toward becoming a Monarch Waystation through Monarch Watch. If you’ve ever seen a monarch butterfly drifting across a field, you’ve witnessed a tiny traveler on one of the most remarkable migrations in the natural world. Unfortunately, monarch populations have declined in recent decades due to habitat loss and particularly from the loss of milkweed, the one plant monarchs rely on to lay their eggs and feed their caterpillars.
That’s where organizations like Monarch Watch come in. Based out of the University of Kansas, Monarch Watch is a conservation program dedicated to studying, tagging, and protecting monarch butterflies through research, education, and habitat restoration. One of their initiatives helps individuals and land stewards create Monarch Waystations or spaces planted with milkweed and nectar plants that provide essential habitat for monarchs during their long migration.
A few months ago, we applied to receive native milkweed through their habitat restoration program and we were thrilled to receive the news:
“Monarch Watch is pleased to award you free milkweed plants for your monarch habitat restoration project. Through generous funding sources, our partner nurseries grow these milkweed plants from native seed collected in your ecoregion.”
Receiving these plants feels like a beautiful way to begin restoring habitat here. Because the milkweed is grown from seed collected within our local ecoregion, it’s adapted to the climate and ecosystems that already exist around Ponderosa of Paradise.
Like many of the conservation projects on the land right now, this is very much a work in progress. We’ll be planting the milkweed later in the year once the timing is right and we’ve prepared the appropriate spaces for it to thrive. Our hope is that over time, these plantings will support monarch butterflies and other pollinators, helping turn small corners of the property into welcoming habitat along their migratory path.
For us, becoming a Monarch Waystation is one more step toward creating a landscape that supports biodiversity, pollinators, and the delicate ecosystems that make this place so special. And honestly, we can’t wait for the day when we start spotting monarchs visiting the milkweed here.
