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We are excited to announce a partnership with the Nebraska Monarch and Pollinator Initiative. They began in 2015 when they started developing their monarch conservation plan with involvement from a diverse group of stakeholders. Their mission is to “collaboratively identify opportunities to benefit monarch butterflies and other pollinators in Nebraska and develop a statewide Nebraska Monarch and Pollinator Conservation Plan with specific strategies for implementation”.
The Initiative continually works to plant milkweed and improve habitat. In the summer, they organize and conduct monarch butterfly surveys, and in the fall they tag monarchs through Monarch Watch. They encourage the public to participate in citizen science by asking them to report milkweed directly to the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission (NGPC) website, to the HabiTally app, or directly to the Monarch Conservation Database. Additionally, they run outreach events and presentations, which reach a wide range of people from conservation practitioners to the general public.
In February 2016, the Nebraska Monarch and Pollinator Initiative held a summit in Lincoln, Nebraska. There they brought together a wide range of stakeholders to contribute ideas and commitments for their state plan. They established conservation goals that include increasing monarch habitat, addressing research gaps and supporting research projects, having more citizens participate in active volunteer work, and engaging a wide range of stakeholders (from agribusiness to educators to landowners). They are planting milkweed in high-diversity plantings, aiming for 100-300 stems of milkweed per acre restored or enhanced. From 2015-2020, their goal is to plant 125 million milkweed stems in Nebraska.
To find more information on Nebraska Monarch and Pollinator Initiative’s conservation plan, please visit http://outdoornebraska.gov/monarchconservationplan/.
The Monarch Joint Venture is a national partnership of federal and state agencies, non-governmental organizations, businesses and academic programs working together to conserve the monarch butterfly migration. The content in this article does not necessarily reflect the positions of all Monarch Joint Venture partners. Photo provided by the Nebraska Monarch and Pollinator Initiative.