West Central Tribune (Willmar, MN)

Jan 4, 2022

While the drought this summer might have had an impact on milkweed growth, Kandiyohi County has marked the completion of its first year in a new monarch butterfly habitat projection program. The goal is to help the state’s butterfly population rebound while also allowing public works projects to move forward with fewer restrictions.

In 2021, the County Board approved the county’s participation in the Nationwide Candidate Conservation Agreement for Monarch Butterfly on Energy and Transportation Land conservation program. The agreement, created by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service in partnership with the University of Illinois Chicago, has a goal to set aside 465,000 acres of rights of way nationwide as protected monarch butterfly habitat.

Read the rest of this article at the West Central Tribune website.

La Junta (CO) Tribune-Democrat

December 1, 2021

By now there’s broad awareness of the critical role pollinators play in most of the delicious foods that grace the traditional holiday table — from the mashed potatoes and roasted squash to the pumpkin bread and pecan pie — but researchers are only just scratching the surface in understanding how agricultural land and pollinator habitat can be interwoven together to benefit both.

Continue reading the article on the La Junta Tribune-Democrat website.

Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

November 23, 2021

Casual visitors at Woolsey Wet Prairie walk mowed trails to admire wildflowers and native plants that flourish there. Volunteers with Project Wingspan wade into the thick of it, up to their elbows in tall grass waving in the breeze.

Their goal is to collect the seeds from native plants for distribution and planting around the region. The seeds will hopefully grow into mature plants that benefit pollinators such as monarch butterflies and bees.

Continue reading this article on the Gazette website.

Associated Press

November 4, 2021

MONTICELLO, Minnesota (AP) — Silflower was among native plants that blanketed the vast North American prairie until settlers developed farms and cities. Nowadays confined largely to roadsides and ditches, the long-stemmed cousin of the sunflower may be poised for a comeback, thanks to solar energy.

Researchers are growing silflower at nine solar installations in the Minneapolis area, testing its potential as an oilseed crop. The deep-rooted perennial also offers forage for livestock and desperately needed habitat for bees, butterflies and hummingbirds.

Continue reading this article on the Associated Press website.

Victorville (CA) Daily News

November 14, 2021

When developers of a proposed high-speed train from Los Angeles to Las Vegas talk about their project, one pointthey emphasize is the benefit to the environment.

Representatives of Brightline West have said the electric trains running at speeds of up to 200 mph will cut emissions — 400,000 tons of carbon dioxide annually — by removing from the road more than 3 million vehicles that would normally travel up Interstate 15 to Sin City every year.

Read the rest of the article on the Victorville Daily News website.

Yahoo! Finance (November 16, 2021)

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) today announced $1.9 million in grants to conserve monarch butterflies and other insect pollinators in California, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Wisconsin. The grants will generate $3.2 million in matching contributions for a total conservation impact of $5.1 million.

Continue reading the article on Yahoo! Finance.

 

The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)

November 13, 2021

Downtown Lorain could become one of northern Ohio’s newest stops for migrating monarch butterflies.

A pollinator garden committee has formed to plant the new flower patch at the corner of Broadway and West Erie Avenue.

Continue reading this article at the Morning Journal website.

 

(The San Luis Obispo Tribune) November 7, 2021

San Luis Obispo County farmer Lisen Bonnier of Vintage Organics has a stretch of her farmland that has never grown crops well. It floods and has always been generally “problematic,” she said.

Read more here.

The Berkshire Edge (Berkshire County, MA)

November 4, 2021

Since Great Barrington first enacted its pollinator-friendly resolution five years ago, several other towns in western Massachusetts have taken similar measures. “I’d like to think of Great Barrington as a leader in many ways,” said Town Manager Mark Pruhenski.

Read more.