[Pollinator] New management plan for the monarch grove at Pismo State Beach, California

[Matthew Shepherd]

The monarch grove at Pismo State Beach is the kind of place you could whiz
past on your way to the grocery store, a nondescript stand of trees,
sandwiched between a campground and houses beside the highway. But the
grove is one of the most important overwintering sites for monarch
butterflies in California, and has regularly hosted more than 10% of the
entire western monarch population.



As with many monarch overwintering groves, this site requires active and
thoughtful management if it is to persist in providing monarchs with what
they need. As the overwintering stage of the monarch’s annual migration
cycle is the most vulnerable and the population is the smallest during this
time of year, actions taken to protect the butterflies during the winter
have the potential to help the population as a whole. The need for more
active management at Pismo became especially clear in 2016 after winter
storms caused the loss of multiple large trees, including one the monarchs
preferred to cluster on and making the remaining cluster trees more
vulnerable to storms. The experience led State Park staff to refocus their
efforts to restore and plan for the future of the grove.



Since 2017, State Parks has partnered with the Xerces Society, Stu Weiss of
the Creekside Center for Earth Observation, and other monarch experts to
develop and implement a plan to restore and enhance the site’s ability to
host monarchs. Among this group’s accomplishments are the writing of a
detailed site management plan which provides a roadmap for tree management,
wildflower and shrub plantings (to provide a nectar source for monarchs),
and monitoring which will improve the site conditions in both the short-
and long-term. The partnership also facilitated multiple studies of the
grove’s conditions, which provide an underpinning for the management
recommendations and highlight which trees are most vital for the monarchs.
State Parks has also established a robust monitoring program by staff and
docents, and detailed mapping of the grove so they can follow the fate of
individual trees over time. But most importantly, this partnership changed
conditions on the ground. In the past three years, State Parks has planted
over sixty trees and nearly one hundred nectar plants, and installed an
improved irrigation system. The plan also outlines more actions the park
can take in the years ahead. As State Parks' actions have become recognized
as a model of proactive restoration, their staff have been invited to
present their work at national and regional monarch events.



Read more in *Planning and Planting for the Future of Monarchs in
California* on the Xerces blog:

https://xerces.org/blog/planning-and-planting-for-future-of-monarchs-in-california



The blog includes a link to download the management plan.



Thanks!



Matthew





----------

Matthew Shepherd

Director of Communications & Outreach

*he/him/his*



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