Recent News
Participants at the recent monarch conservation field day enjoyed a beautiful morning, lively conversation, and hands-on activities! Wendy Wintersteen welcomed nearly 40 attendees and highlighted monarch conservation efforts happening statewide...
When people think of STEM research, butterflies aren’t typically what come to mind.
Three women are working to change that perception.
AMES, Iowa – Monarch butterfly populations have taken a nosedive over the last 20 years, according to researchers who monitor the number of butterflies that spend the winter in Mexico every year. But organizations of citizen scientists in the United States who conduct yearly censuses of monarchs in state parks have reported...
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.