Recent News
Iowa State University Extension and Outreach will host a monarch and pollinator field day on Aug. 21 at the Prairie Ridge Care Center in Orange City. The program will run from 2:30-3:30 p.m. and includes a field tour of the monarch and pollinator habitat planted at Prairie Ridge Care Center. It is designed for landowners and families who want to learn more about planting pollinator habitat.
What are participants saying about the 2018 Iowa Monarch Conservation Summit?
"Awesome research -- keep it going!"
"I learned a lot about monarchs today -- very informational!"
"Great program!"
Farming near Osage in northeast Iowa, this year marks the 45th crop Wayne Fredericks has planted on the 750 acres he farms using no-till, strip till and cover crops. While he’s hopeful for great soybean and corn crops, he is especially proud of the seven acres of pollinator habitat that are sprinkled around his Mitchell County farm operation.
Upcoming Events
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Tuesday, August 21, 2018 - 2:30pm to 3:30pm
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Tuesday, August 28, 2018 - 1:00pm to 2:00pm
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Tuesday, September 25, 2018 - 1:00pm to 2:00pm
Monarch Conservation
Iowa's role is vital to the monarch butterfly’s recovery! The Iowa Monarch Conservation Strategy is now available to guide efforts. Read a summary of the strategy, and here are five actions you can take. Read the Iowa Monarch Conservation Consortium's Strategic Goals.
Monarch Sightings
Click on the map on the right to see the progress of monarchs migrating north from Mexico.
Learning About Iowa Monarchs
We want our recommendations for monarch habitat improvement to be scientifically sound. Research projects in summer 2017 include:
- efforts to evaluate nine species of milkweed on plots at Iowa State University research farms
- a project to discover optimal monarch breeding, forage and roosting habitat characteristics in Iowa's patchy landscape and
- a survey of milkweed species and monarch occurrence, plant density, and population to establish baseline data.