NEBRASKAland Magazine is dedicated to outstanding photography and informative writing with an engaging mix of articles and photos highlighting Nebraska’s outdoor activities, parklands, wildlife, history and people.
Issue link: http://mag.outdoornebraska.gov/i/1521783
40 Nebraskaland • June 2024 Monarch Joint Venture in Omaha, a conservation organization dedicated to conserving the butterfl y. She explained that in addition to the loss of milkweeds, other factors contributing to the monarch's decline include loss of their prairie habitat to agriculture, development and tree encroachment; the widespread use of pesticides and herbicides on cropland and lawns; and climate change, which interrupts the butterfl y's fall and spring migrations to and from their wintering grounds. Manzanares, however, still encourages planting milkweeds, as they do benefi t monarchs and other pollinators that feed on their nectar and pollen. "It is an easy way to involve people in conservation," she said. Milkweed seedlings planted in urban and other areas will attract monarchs and entice them to lay a few eggs. Growing seedlings, however, is labor intensive and the transplants often need watering and, when planted in the wild, struggle to survive. In reality, the only practical ways to substantially increase milkweeds and help the monarch is to include milkweed in the seed mixes used when restoring prairies and to manage existing grasslands using methods that increase the plants. Methods landowners can use to accomplish the latter follow. Intense Spring and Fall Grazing Fifteen years ago, my wife, Grace, and I began testing methods to increase milkweeds and other wildfl owers in a 40-acre tallgrass prairie on her family's farm in southeastern South Dakota. Like many Midwestern prairies, more than a century of season-long livestock grazing and, more recently, annual mid-summer haying, had stressed the prairie's native grasses and wildfl owers and allowed non- native grasses, mainly smooth brome and Kentucky bluegrass, to invade. At that time, the prairie supported few milkweeds or other wildfl owers and had little value for monarchs. But things were about to change. First, haying was replaced with intense spring grazing in most years, with occasional additional fall grazing, or spring prescribed fi re followed by rest the remainder of the growing season. These practices stressed the spring- and fall-growing brome and bluegrass while allowing the summer-growing native grasses and wildfl owers to recover. Small colonies of common and whorled milkweed began to dot the grassland. These plants likely sprouted from the seed bank and then spread by rhizomes, underground stems with buds. We were also delighted to see scattered plants of the uncommon green and woolly milkweeds. Other pollinator- friendly wildfl owers, such as purple conefl ower and Missouri goldenrod, made their appearance as well. Sullivant's milkweed pods ripen in late summer. The plant's smooth leaves and pods distinguish it from the hairier common milkweed.