AMES, IA -- Over the past few years, Iowa has consistently invested in monarch butterfly conservation by adding new areas of monarch habitat throughout the state. The Iowa Monarch Conservation Consortium (IMCC) has recently updated its Monarch Conservation Effort Report, which offers a summary of monarch habitat establishment through 2022 in all 99 counties across the state.
The report summarizes the program goals, methodology, and habitat acres established through 2022. The data shows that since 2015, more than 690,000 acres of monarch butterfly habitat have been established across the state. These established acres represent 88% of the IMCC strategy low-end goal to reach 790,000 acres by 2038.
“This report demonstrates how we are making significant progress towards our overall target,” said Daniel Robison, holder of the endowed dean's chair in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Iowa State University. “Through the combined efforts of our members and partners, we are working to engage Iowans about the importance of monarch butterflies for our state and to make a positive difference on the landscape. This is a remarkable and sustained effort by all the consortium members.”
The report also covers how specific land use sectors are progressing in reaching their habitat goals. One notable achievement is that the Public Land sector (state, county, and federal land) has surpassed both its low- and high-end goals for habitat acreage and milkweed stem abundance! Agriculture has also made significant contributions. It is 96% of the way towards its low-end acreage goal and 39% of the way towards reaching its low-end, milkweed goal. Road Right-of-Way and Urban sectors both still have progress to make before reaching sector goals. Moving forward, the IMCC is hoping to support more urban habitat establishment as it continues working towards its habitat establishment goals.
"This report highlights the tremendous work we have made but also underscores the need for continued conservation efforts by all stakeholders,” said Iowa Department of Natural Resources Director Lyon. “The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is proud of its partnerships with private landowners, conservation organizations, and state and local agencies that contribute to monarch conservation in Iowa."
Habitat establishment is self-reported by individuals and organizations through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service managed Monarch Conservation Database (MCD), USDA’s Conservation Reserve Program and Natural Resources Conservation Service Programs, and HabiTally.
"With the acceleration of soil conservation and water quality work increasing across Iowa, we also look for ways to integrate wildlife habitat into our projects, especially for monarchs and other essential pollinators," said Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig. "Iowa continues to break records in conservation adoption, but this work is far from finished. We will continue to collaborate with the Iowa Monarch Conservation Consortium and other public and private partners to do even more in the years ahead. I invite all Iowans to find ways to expand pollinator habitat across our diverse landscapes while also enhancing soil health and protecting our water quality in our communities.”
The Monarch Conservation Effort Dashboards have also been updated with the newest data through 2022. This tool allows anyone to interact with data at the state and county level. The interactive Iowa heat map allows users to click on a county and see a chart of the county’s cumulative monarch habitat acreage broken down by sector. Additional maps on milkweed stem establishment and yearly trends can be found linked on the left-hand side of the dashboard.
The IMCC comprises members and partners from 50 organizations, including agricultural and conservation associations, agribusiness and utility companies, universities and state and federal agencies. To learn more about the goals and strategies of the IMCC, visit https://monarch.ent.iastate.edu/iowa-monarch-conservation-strategy. The IMCC plans to update their strategy document sometime in 2025 after the monarch listing decision has been announced.
To learn more about the Iowa Monarch Conservation Consortium, visit https://monarch.ent.iastate.edu/ and follow @IowaMonarchs on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
Contacts:
Mykayla Hagaman, Iowa Monarch Conservation Consortium, monarchs@iastate.edu