The DMACC Boone Social Justice Club over the summer made a way-station for Monarch Butterflies. Over the summer the way station was built, including milkweed, mix or seeds of native wildflowers, including Coreopsis, Larkspur, Blue Flax, and Crimson Clover. These plants feed the pollinators that are coming through. The plants were raised by seed by our local instructor Amy Prochaska
In September we had had our first Monarch Caterpillar, Monty, however Monty did not survive the chrysalis. We believe that he was bitten by a fly and he did not survive. We shortly after collected a second monarch caterpillar, Matt Amorphosis, who successfully went through his chrysalis.
Matt was released on Sunday, September 30 by Prochaska, and is believed to be part of the fifth generation and to be heading to Mexico or the winter.
Many groups throughout the states, including our local Social Justice Club, have been building and maintaining way stations for Monarch Butterflies to safely stay and repopulate. According to the Center for Biological Diversity, in 1997 the Monarch Butterfly population was at 682 million butterflies, compared to in 2015 when the population was 42 million. Good news is that in 2016, the population more than tripled and was at 150 million butterflies.