[Pollinator] Fwd: MONARCH WATCH ANNOUNCES BRING BACK THE MONARCHS CAMPAIGN

[Ladadams at aol.com]

____________________________________
 From: chip at ku.edu
To: dplex-l at listproc.cc.ku.edu
Sent: 10/27/2010  10:58:42 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time
Subj: MONARCH WATCH ANNOUNCES BRING  BACK THE MONARCHS CAMPAIGN


News Release

MONARCH WATCH  ANNOUNCES BRING BACK THE MONARCHS CAMPAIGN

"In real estate it's location, location, location and for monarchs  and 
other wildlife it's habitat, habitat, habitat", said Chip Taylor, Director  of 
Monarch Watch. Monarch Watch, started in 1992 as an outreach program  
dedicated to engaging the public in studies of monarchs, is now concentrating  its 
efforts on monarch conservation. "We have a lot of habitat in this country  
but we are losing it at a rapid pace. Development is consuming 6,000 acres 
a  day, a loss of 2.2 million acres per year. Further, the overuse of 
herbicides  along roadsides and elsewhere is turning diverse areas that support 
monarchs,  pollinators, and other wildlife into grass-filled landscapes that 
support few  species. The adoption of genetically modified soybeans and corn 
have further  reduced monarch habitat. If these trends continue, monarchs 
are certain to  decline, threatening the very existence of their magnificent 
migration", said  Taylor.

To address these changes and restore habitats for monarchs,  pollinators, 
and other wildlife, Monarch Watch is initiating a nationwide  landscape 
restoration program called "Bring Back The Monarchs". The goals of  this program 
are to restore 19 milkweed species, used by monarch caterpillars  as food, 
to their native ranges throughout the United States and to encourage  the 
planting of nectar-producing native flowers that support adult monarchs  and 
other pollinators.
This program is an outgrowth of the Monarch  Waystation Program started by 
Monarch Watch in 2005. There are now over 4,000  certified Monarch 
Waystations - mostly habitats created in home gardens,  schoolyards, parks, and 
commercial landscaping. "While these sites contribute  to monarch conservation, 
it is clear that to save the monarch migration we  need to do more," Taylor 
said. " We need to think on a bigger scale and we  need to think ahead, to 
anticipate how things are going to change as a result  of population growth, 
development, changes in agriculture, and most of all,  changes in the 
climate," said Taylor.

According to Taylor we need a comprehensive plan on how to manage the  
fragmented edges and marginal areas created by development and agriculture  
since it is these edges that support monarchs, many of our pollinators, and  the 
many forms of wildlife that are sustained by the seeds, fruits, nuts,  
berries, and foliage that result from pollination. "In effect," Taylor argues,  
"we need a new conservation ethic, one dealing with edges and marginal areas 
 that addresses the changes of the recent past and anticipates those of the 
 future."


For more information on this program, please visit the Bring Back the  
Monarchs website --
http://BringBackTheMonarchs.org.


Please help us promote this program.


-- 

Monarch  Watch
monarch at ku.edu
http://www.MonarchWatch.org/
Dplex-L:  send  message "info Dplex-L" to Listproc at ku.edu
1-888-TAGGING (toll-free!) -or-  1-785-864 4441
University of Kansas
1200 Sunnyside Avenue
Lawrence,  KS 66045-7534
Create, Conserve and Protect Monarch  Habitats

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