{"id":9059,"date":"2018-03-01T09:12:07","date_gmt":"2018-03-01T14:12:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/?p=9059"},"modified":"2025-06-10T16:57:36","modified_gmt":"2025-06-10T20:57:36","slug":"farmers-ranchers-food-companies-philanthopy-crowdsource-funding-habitat-monarch-butterfly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/2018\/03\/01\/farmers-ranchers-food-companies-philanthopy-crowdsource-funding-habitat-monarch-butterfly\/","title":{"rendered":"Unlikely allies are crowdsourcing funding and habitat to save the monarch butterfly"},"content":{"rendered":"

The monarch butterfly has a new chance at recovery, thanks to the launch of the Monarch Butterfly Habitat Exchange and inspiring commitments from early participants.<\/p>\n

The Monarch Butterfly Habitat Exchange<\/a> is an innovative market-based program dedicated to restoring and conserving high-quality monarch habitat on America’s private working lands. It\u2019s been dubbed an \u2018Airbnb for butterflies<\/a>\u2019 because it\u2019s the only program of its kind that can open the vast untapped potential of large-scale farms and ranches to make habitat available for monarchs at an unprecedented scale and pace.<\/p>\n

[Tweet “Powerful partners have teamed up to launch a groundbreaking program to recover the monarch butterfly.”]<\/p>\n

Studies<\/a>\u00a0estimate that the monarch\u2019s population has declined by 95 percent since the 1980s, and the butterfly faces a June 2019 deadline for an Endangered Species Act listing decision.<\/p>\n

To change the monarch\u2019s trajectory and avoid the need for restrictive regulations that often accompany a listing, we need to restore millions of acres of native milkweed and wildflowers across the butterfly\u2019s vast migration route, fast.<\/p>\n

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Farmers and ranchers hold the key to success<\/strong><\/p>\n

Agricultural lands make up roughly half of the acreage required to recover the monarch, so recruiting farmers and ranchers who manage these large-scale landscapes will be a game changer. They are essential allies in restoring prairie habitat for a variety of pollinators that will benefit from their work on the ground.<\/p>\n

\"George
George and Amy Greer of Winters-Wall Ranch<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Through the exchange, landowners are paid to create, maintain and improve habitat on their property, with projects ranging from full prairie restoration to supplemental planting of milkweed within marginal agricultural fields. Milkweed is vital to monarch success, since butterflies lay their eggs and caterpillars feed exclusively on this milky sap-filled plant.<\/p>\n

The exchange is currently focused on developing projects with landowners in Texas, Missouri and California.<\/p>\n

Amy Greer is a sixth-generation rancher in Brady, Texas. She and her husband, George, decided to participate in the exchange to help re-establish native milkweed and wildflowers on their ranch. Amy is also a trained wildlife biologist.<\/p>\n

\u201cGeorge and I both understand how important ecological diversity is for all the plants, animals, insects and birds that live here on the ranch aside from us and our cattle,\u201d Amy said. \u201cWe also understand the importance of pollinators to the larger food system, so anything we can do to improve habitat for bees and butterflies is important to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watch this video to learn more about George and Amy Greer\u2019s participation in the Monarch Butterfly Habitat Exchange.<\/em><\/p>\n