Pollinators are essential to the ecosystem, helping flowers, fruits, and some crops reproduce. The butterfly, one of the beautiful members of that group, also eats some weeds and munches some bugs. Their presence is the mark of a healthy ecosystem. Pollinators are decreasing, though, due to a loss of habitat caused by residential, commercial, agricultural expansion and introduction of non-native plants into their home territories.

We can help to protect the butterfly by choosing to:

• Fill our gardens with such butterfly favorites as: aster, bee balm, Black-eyed Susans, blazing star, butterfly bush, catmint, coneflowers, button bush, false indigo, hollyhock, lavender, sage, Shasta daisy, stonecrop, zinnia. It’s not too late to plant some of these this season.
• Be a citizen scientist. Take part in the Citizen Community Science Monarch Larva Monitoring Project at Five Rivers on Thursdays this summer. For more than a decade, Five Rivers has participated in the University of Minnesota's continent-wide citizen science project. Project goal is to better understand how and why monarch populations vary. Learn more about the project at: Monarch Larva Monitoring Project. Register to participate at: New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Calendar of Events and Important Dates.

Creation Care Team page

Creation Care Team contact: Marie Myer