Laura Young
ECB Publishing, Inc.
For a second year, the North Florida Wildlife Center (NFWC) in Lamont, Fla., is expanding its active support for threatened monarch butterflies by updating the milkweed planting program on its property.
Milkweed plants are a critical resource for monarchs. The adult monarchs feed on the milkweed flower nectar when they are migrating through the area. They lay eggs on the milkweed plants, and their caterpillars eat milkweed leaves exclusively as they grow.
“The plant itself is threatened with extinction due to habitat destruction of wetlands,” says NFWC Director Ryan Reines. “Two years ago we were approached by an organization within St. Marks called the Monarch Milkweed Initiative of St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge, to have transplanted several adult, endangered native wetland milkweed.”
The plants NFWC installed two years ago matured, produced hundreds of seeds, and those seeds now have grown to adulthood, flowered and produced a second generation of seeds. This provided an opportunity to further expand the milkweed field. Reines and his staff have observed monarchs visiting their initial milkweed patch and have seen young larvae hatch out and begin to grow, but then they disappeared.
“I don't think [the larvae] fully survived to maturity due to bad weather, predators,” surmises Reines.
Because of that, NFWC decided to relocate all the plants to a different, more protected and more easily monitored area of the property. These steps should protect the next batch of young caterpillars so that they can complete a full life cycle and transform into butterflies.
“In the last month, we had several volunteer groups come out and completely clear this area,” says Reines as he points to an open space in the woods. “We transplanted all the adult plants onto this hill, and you can see that we're going to fence it off.”
In addition to moving the existing, mature plants, they also have planted thousands of the tiny seeds that were painstakingly collected this year – an entire gallon bag full!
“Hopefully next spring, next summer this [area] will be full of milkweed,” says Reines. “It's very exciting for us. This is an endangered plant, and it's here as a crucial stopping point for endangered eastern monarch butterflies during their migration.”
While monarchs are free-flying, seasonal inhabitants on the property, the NFWC is most known for its resident animals, including some of the world's rarest and most endangered species. The NFWC invites you to “Visit the center and experience nature's most fascinating life forms, from playful lemurs and kangaroo joeys, to snake-eating eagles, semi-terrestrial fish, and many more strange and incredible animals!”
NFWC is located at 1386 Cook Rd. in Lamont. To book a tour, visit www.northfloridawildlife.org.