SPRINGDALE, Ark. — The iconic monarch butterfly is in danger of extinction as Thursday, July 21, it was put on the endangered list by an international group.
The beautiful orange-and-black fluttering insect has declined between 22% and 72% in the last decade. This is according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature which added the species to its red list of threatened species categorizing it as endangered which is two steps away from extinction.
“Monarchs are a big part of the pollinators and we have to have that for our food supply and everything else. I think it’s very important that we protect all pollinators,” said Marty Powers.
Monarch enthusiast Marty Powers is the grounds keeper at the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History in Springdale. His love of monarch butterflies started as a kid when he and his family would watch them migrate into Arkansas.
“As I got older and learned more about them, learned what their migration is, their life cycle…it’s fascinating. There is a whole lot to learn about them and the more you get into it the more you admire what they do and it just becomes an obsession so to speak,” he said.
The Shiloh Museum has several thousand milkweed plants because milkweed is the host plant where monarchs lay their eggs to reproduce, so if there isn’t milkweed, there can’t be more monarchs. Monarchs come through Arkansas while migrating from Mexico in the spring. We should get another visit in the next few weeks.
“The end of August into the first several weeks of September there will be hundreds coming through, thousands that you’ll be able to see quite a few of them here. Wherever there is milkweed they are going to show up. Somehow, they are able to find it,” he said.
The Shiloh Museum encourages everyone to plant milkweed. In the past, they have given out over 6,000 plants. Right now, they have milkweed seeds for free to anyone.