Students’ work paying off for Monarchs

If you plant it, they will come; “It” being milkweed, and “them” being monarch butterflies. The work of some Nipissing University students, as previously reported in NU News, to conserve Monarch Butterflies while simultaneously transforming a former dump site, is already showing some results.

This picture, snapped by Michelle Cross, clearly shows a Monarch caterpillar munching on a recently planted milkweed in the Marsh Drive dump site.
Monarch butterflies only lay their eggs on milkweed, and caterpillars eat milkweed exclusively.

The students, who were all enrolled in the Flora of Northern Ontario biology course with Dr. Peter Nosko this summer, sowed milkweed in the university’s greenhouse for planting at the dump site. Working with Nipissing Naturalists and the City of North Bay, the milkweed was planted at the dump site in Early July and, so far, everything is progressing as planned as the Monarchs are making themselves at home.

Students continue to grow milkweed seedlings in Nipissing’s greenhouse, for planting at the dump site in the spring.

This September, students will collect milkweed seedpods from a couple of sites where they are plentiful and distribute seeds at the dumpsite to overwinter in the field for spring germination.

As well, students will asses the success of direct seedling at the dump site and will rescue and transplant mature milkweed plants from other sites, such as farm fields.