Yesterday, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation released its grant slate for this year’s Monarch Butterfly Conservation Fund. The Fund awarded 23 grants for $3.7 million with an additional $5.8 in matching contributions, generating more than $9 million for conservation. Of those awarded, several projects highlight the work of Monarch Joint Venture partners.
“The Monarch Butterfly Conservation Fund delivers tremendous support through partnership-focused conservation efforts to ensure a future filled with monarchs,” said Greg Sheehan, Principal Deputy Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “The 2017 grants will enable us, our partners, and the public to continue providing on-the-ground results that are vital for this species that is so important in our native ecosystems as well as to thousands of farmers who rely on pollinators to help provide food to the citizens of America.”
The Foundation’s Monarch Butterfly Conservation Fund is a public-private partnership between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Monsanto, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Geological Survey, the Bureau of Land Management, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service. This is the third year the Fund has awarded projects.
The 2017 awards will support efforts that increase the quality, quantity and connectivity of monarch breeding and overwintering habitat and enhance organizational capacity. Collectively, this year these projects will:
- Restore and enhance more than 43,000 acres
- Collect more than 2,800 pounds of milkweed and other native forb seed
- Propagate 131,000 native plant seedlings
- Host approximately 210 workshops or webinars
To read about the specific projects, see the full award announcement and project descriptions here. Congratulations to all the recipients of this funding for their outstanding monarch conservation projects!
This news update is modified from an original article by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; which can be found here. The Monarch Joint Venture is a national partnership of federal and state agencies, non-governmental organizations, 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. Header photo by Wendy Caldwell.