Join in and plant for pollinators
Can you imagine travelling across the width of Lake Erie using nothing but your own strength? This challenging task seems next to impossible for us. Yet somehow, tiny monarch butterflies manage to make the journey. They don’t just travel across the Great Lakes, but across an entire country to migrate. But the journey for this species at risk is getting harder and harder each year.
In the fall, monarch butterflies escape the cold through migration. One generation of Monarch butterflies travel from Southern Canada all the way down to Mexico where they stay the winter.
In the spring, a new generation of butterflies travels thousands of kilometres from Mexico. They cross the United States, over fields, mountains, and even the Great Lakes, to return back to Canada to start the cycle over again. It is sometimes these same butterflies, but usually their great grandchildren, that make it all the way to Canada. Their migration can be over 4500-kilometers long in one direction, the longest of any insect. That's a tough trip, especially when you weigh less than a gram!
Imagine what would happen if these butterflies arrived back in Canada, couldn't find milkweed, and found only asphalt? They would have no food and nowhere to rest, recover and reproduce.
Milkweed is a Monarch caterpillar’s only source of food and a source of nourishing nectar for adult Monarchs.
Parks Canada is helping ensure that this doesn’t happen, and we need your help!
How landscapes impact migration
Estimates suggest that in the last 30 years, North American Monarch populations have declined by over 80%. In fact, in 2021 it was reported that there were more Starbucks coffee shops than Monarchs overwintering in California (PDF)!
Thankfully, when a group of Monarchs cross Lake Erie from the United States, they are greeted by Point Pelee National Park. Point Pelee is the southernmost point of mainland Canada, and the most ecologically diverse national park in the country. Here, they can find an abundance of food and shelter and the habitat necessary to grow their population. Some butterflies will then move north and east throughout Ontario. They may find summer homes in places like Bruce Peninsula National Park, Rouge National Urban Park, Georgian Bay Islands National Park, the Trent Severn Waterway and more.
But these are only stops in their migration. As they make their way beyond national parks, they face landscape fragmentation. This means that their habitat has been lost and broken up by urban development, roads, industrial agriculture, and more. Having to travel farther and farther before they can find habitat makes their already difficult journey even harder.
What Parks Canada is doing to help
To support this species at risk and many more, Parks Canada is restoring ecosystems to provide stepping stones of habitat. These stops help species move more freely and easily in their natural environment. By planting native trees, grasses, and wildflowers in protected areas, Parks Canada is creating food and habitat where migrating birds and butterflies can rest and refuel before continuing their long journey.
Parks Canada, along with Indigenous communities, partners, and volunteers, have restored more than 40 hectares (98.8 acres) of meadow, coastal sand dune, and savannah habitat in national parks and national historic sites in Ontario. These are all habitats that are critical for pollinators. In the last 5 years, together we have also planted over 145,000 native shrubs and trees and almost 18,000 native grasses and wildflowers.
Parks Canada places also serve as living laboratories. In these laboratories, staff investigate Monarchs and methods to improve habitat quality. Monarchs are also monitored to provide data for projects like Mission Monarch Expert. This research supports international conservation collaboration and helps fill knowledge gaps about Monarchs.
More Monarch Information, and stories from Parks Canada:
- Fort St. Joseph National Historic Site
- Point Pelee National Park
- Rouge National Urban Park
- Sault Ste. Marie Canal National Historic Site
How you can help protect pollinators (beyond butterflies)
Monarchs are creating buzz for pollinator conservation. Fortunately, habitat protection and creation that helps Monarchs can benefit other pollinators too!
Parks Canada’s work to conserve and restore healthy ecosystems that provide important habitat is only one piece in a much larger puzzle. You can be a part of the larger solution to habitat loss by providing habitat “stepping stones” too!
Imagine if once a monarch butterfly moves on from a national park, it finds your yard, garden box, or balcony, filled with native plants. There, it can stop, rest, and fuel up for its journey before making its way to another protected area. If everyone planted just a few native plants or wildflowers, it would make this butterfly’s journey so much easier!
You don’t need to have a big yard to make a difference. Planting a small garden or a few native plants on your balcony is important too, especially in urban areas. If you don’t have space to plant at home, you can also find out if there are any community gardens in your neighbourhood that you could join.
To help out pollinators, we recommend planting a variety of native plants and wildflowers. Milkweed is especially good for monarchs because it is the only plant that monarch caterpillars eat. Check out Pollinator Partnership Canada’s Ecoregional Planting Guides or their 'Find Your Roots' native plant finder tool for recommended plants to plant in your area. You can also check out the Canadian Wildlife Federation’s Canadian Native Plant Suppliers List to find local businesses to purchase your plants and seeds.
And, if you’ve been bitten by the citizen science bug, look out for other pollinators too. You can collect data from your own neighbourhood, or when you visit a Parks Canada site!
Here are some citizen science resources to get you started:
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