‘TOO COOL TO LOSE’
Illinois making major push to boost monarch numbers
Isaw a monarch butterfly ferociously feeding Saturday on a butterfly plant, so I ferociously photographed it from inches away.
Monarchs are sexy. They’re perfect models for pollinator love.
By contrast, look at double-crested cormorants. They’re so ugly that it’s easy to despise them for more than their fish-eating.
Human perceptions matter in how natural resources are managed.
Monarchs and pollinators are much of-the-moment.
David Zaya, a plant ecologist for the Illinois Natural History Survey, and the Illinois Farm Bureau’s Lyndsey Ramsey were featured Monday during ‘‘The Illinois Monarch Project: Lunch with an Expert’’ at the University of Illinois Extension Auditorium in Champaign.
IMP grew out of a summit in September 2016 in Springfield of agriculture, natural-resources and academic groups looking to cooperate and collaborate. They have been meeting monthly since. There already have been improvements, including how roadside mowing is done by farmers and the Illinois Department of Transportation.
Illinois is literally the center of an area of concern for monarchs. Illinois’ Milkweed Goal is to add 150 million new stems of milkweed and other nectar sources by 2038.
A lot of studies are in their early stages, such as mowing and plantings of right-of-ways (particularly important in Illinois because of limited public land).
Milkweed in Illinois has been on a decline, but Zaya noticed a bump in 2012-16 and suspected it was related to the Conservation Reserve Program, the Pollinator Habitat Planting and other work related to Pheasants Forever.
Zaya has been surveying agricultural and restored lands for a better idea of what works. He also is doing experimental plantings of milkweed. Among the things he discovered is that swamp milkweed
had better monarch numbers than common milkweed, though far more habitats have common milkweed.
One curious thing he found (very preliminarily) is that a planting of five milkweeds has higher percentage of monarchs when compared with plantings of one or 25. If, like my wife, you include milkweed in your butterfly garden or other plantings, it’s something to keep in mind.
Monarchs were being considered for listing under the Endangered Species Act. That is on hold, in part because the 2018-19 winter count was better. Also, nothing similar to monarchs has been listed before.
A citizen scientist program, I-Pollinate (ipollinate.illinois.edu), began. It operates on three levels: It collects data on monarch egg and caterpillar abundance, pollinator visitation to ornamental flowers and state bee demographics. Zaya is hoping there will be a diversity of landscapes, both urban and rural.
Zaya put the appeal of monarchs simply: ‘‘Monarchs are too cool to lose.’’
More information about IMP is at
ilagformonarchs.org.
High school fishing
The 2019 Oak Lawn Community High School Bass Tournament on Braidwood Lake is Sept. 28. There’s an innovation this year: Boat captains will be allowed to fish with the student anglers.
‘‘I think that being able to see techniques modeled by their coach will be beneficial for the kids,’’ Oak Lawn coach Chris Kuchyt emailed. ‘‘On Sept. 28, the school year/season will only be about a month and a half old. For many of the kids participating, this will be their first bass tournament.’’
Entry is limited to 50 boats. For more information, contact Kuchyt at ckuchyt@olchs.org.
Wild things
I saw my first cicada killer wasp last week, then nearly stepped on my first cicada hull Friday.
Stray cast
Bill Walton on the Sox broadcast Friday was like getting all wet while rafting Wildcat Falls on the Vermilion River. Jason Benetti was like standing on Starved Rock while surveying bald eagles on Plum Island.