How 2 SLO County property owners are restoring their land for monarch butterflies
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.
So when an opportunity arose for her to re-think how the area could be used and she was able to obtain 170 native plants attractive to pollinators such as monarch butterflies and bumblebees, Bonnier jumped at it.
“This is something I can make a difference with,” she said. “I would like to have good pollinator habitat here, and we need to think more about not just ourselves, but the impact on everyone — my neighbors who grow pumpkins and squash and other crops who also need pollinators.”
Bonnier is one of several grantees across San Luis Obispo County and California who have received free native pollinator-friendly plants from the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation.
The nonprofit organization distributed more than 34,000 free native, drought-resistant plants to landowners around California this week. These “habitat kits” are intended to restore key native growth for monarch butterflies and other pollinators.
“One of the reasons monarchs and other pollinators are declining is a loss of habitat. So anything we can add makes a difference,” said Angela Laws, an endangered species conservation biologist with the Xerces Society.
Western monarch butterflies considered near extinction in recent years
Western monarch butterflies have seen their population decline by about 99% since the 1990s, and the federal Fish and Wildlife Service has estimated there is a high probability that the species will collapse within 50 years.
This year, however, things have started to look better for the iconic orange-and-black winged insects in California.
The Pismo State Beach Monarch Butterfly Grove has seen an increase in the number of monarch butterflies arriving early for the overwintering season. About 7,200 monarchs were counted in the grove in late October, up from nearly 200 total counted last winter.
Overall, the monarch population in California appears to be about five times the number counted last year, according to the Xerces Society.
The jump in numbers has pleasantly surprised scientists and experts — but it’s a tempered optimism at best.
“An increase from 2,000 to 10,000 (monarch butterflies in California) feels great, but it’s still not where we would like to be — it’s still a drop in the bucket of how many there should be,” said Emma Pelton, senior conservation biologist with the Xerces Society.
In 2000, about 390,000 monarch butterflies were counted in California. Three years earlier, more than 1.2 million were counted, according to the Xerces Society.
Restoring monarch, pollinator habitat key in helping species survive
Pelton, Laws and others at the Xerces Society hope they can restore the monarch butterfly population to those historic numbers. The species serves as important pollinators to help crops and plants thrive across the state.
One of the steps they’re taking is to distribute the habitat kits to as many landowners as possible in California.
Bonnier, the organic farmer, has set aside about a third of an acre of her farmland off Los Osos Valley Road for the native plants she received from the Xerces Society.
Janin Paine, who owns land between Santa Margarita and Creston, received 85 plants that she’ll plant on a small portion of her property.
The plants Bonnier and Paine received differed slightly because of their locations. But both generally received several milkweed plants, manzanitas, Indian hemp, California lilac and other native varieties.
The plants will provide key food supplies for migrating monarchs and other pollinators.
The plants may also help legitimately restore the land. The land where Paine plans to grow the plants was left relatively barren after several years of grazing and abandonment, she said.
Landowners receiving plants must first prep the area to ensure the native plants have a fighting chance at surviving. Both Bonnier and Paine have installed drip irrigation systems and dug holes as part of a detailed plan Xerces Society biologists helped them craft.
The Coastal San Luis Resource Conservation District — a nonprofit that works to restore natural resources in the county — also worked to help both landowners get the plants and find volunteers to help plant them.
Paine said planting 85 plants on her property with the required irrigation and planning was certainly an undertaking — but one she’s happy to take on.
“Without the pollinators, there’s no food. It’s a serious problem,” Paine said. “But this is a manageable something that I can do, pretty much anybody can do, to help.”
So far, the Xerces Society has distributed more than 105,000 native, drought-resistant plants to more than 140 organizations and landowners in California over the past two years. And they’re not stopping there.
Through the habitat kit program, Laws said the Xerces Society hopes to create “corridors” for monarchs and pollinators to feed on as they migrate, therefore aiding with the conservation of the different species.
“This has a lot of benefits. There’s a lot of emphasis on monarchs, on milkweed, but it will support other pollinators as well,” she said. “And generally, this is restoring habitat that will help with things like carbon sequestration and other wildlife like birds. I think it’s a win-win.”
Property owners or organizations interested in participating in the Xerces Society’s habitat kit program can find more information on the group’s website at bit.ly/31v5mg5.
This story was originally published November 7, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
