Beech Creek Botanical Garden and the effort to save endangered monarch butterflies

Malcolm Hall, The Repository
·2 min read

WASHINGTON TWP. – Melinda Carmichael and her crew at Beech Creek Botanical Garden & Nature Preserve are working to save endangered monarch butterflies.

Monarchs are among the residents of the Butterfly House on the Beech Creek complex. Scientists and nature professionals say the monarch population in North America has been declining.

One reason: The disruption to the insects' habitat, particularly any reduction in the amount of available milkweed, a food source for the monarch butterfly larvae, aka caterpillars.

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What is Beech Creek Botanical doing to save monarchs?

"Monarchs are currently hurting very badly," said Carmichael, executive director of the center at 11929 Beech St. NE. "We let them breed, and we help them protect their eggs. We raise them here. We typically have 300 to 400 butterflies on any particular day. I am not sure how many are monarchs."

The butterfly release is scheduled for Sep.t 17 and 18. In the case of the monarch butterflies, their destination is expected to be Mexico, where they spend much of the cold weather months. Those monarchs will not make it back to this area, but their offspring will.

"They have to go to Mexico," Carmichael said. "That is part of their life cycle. We will be letting them go."

Beech Creek Botanical Garden and Nature Preserve is about three quarters of a mile southwest of Alliance.

Why are monarch butterflies important in the U.S?

Monarchs have a striking appearance with their orange and black wings, and white dots.

"The monarch was petitioned for listing under the Endangered Species Act," said Jenny Finfera, wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Columbus office. "We determined that listing them was warranted. But it is precluded at this time for higher priority action. What that means is the monarch butterfly continues to be a candidate to be listed. The real threats are the changes in the habitat."

While Beech Creek Botanical Garden will set its butterflies free in a few weeks, the facility will begin restocking next year. Some will be shipped to Beech Creek Botanical Garden from other regions of the country.

"The majority of them will come from southern states," said Jim Nero, who helps oversee the Butterfly House. "We rear them under controlled conditions. It is not an issue that affects us. We kind of control their numbers. When we rear them we protect them so we get a much higher survival rate than what is out in nature."

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Helping to save monarch butterflies at Beech Creek Botanical Garden