LONG MAY THEY REIGN

What you can do right now to help save the monarch

On a great many environmental issues we face today, the answer to the question “What can I personally do to help?” is hard to find. That is not the case here. There’s plenty you can do right now, with a shovel or with a smartphone. Here’s how you can help increase butterfly habitat and save these essential — and magnificent — pollinators.

• Lobby your elected represent-

atives, at every level. Get your friends and neighbours to call them too. Contact your local councillor and your mayor. They have responsibility for roadway maintenance and for vast swathes of parkland, playgrounds, and thousands of acres of fields and rights-of-way where milkweed and nectarproducers could be introduced immediately. Ensure too that your municipality has banned the use of harmful pesticides.

• At the provincial level, there

are plenty of ways to make a difference. Contact your MLA/MNA/MPP and the minister responsible for environmental issues. Make sure monarchs are on their radar. First, if you live in a province that is part of the monarch distribution (Hey, we’re talking about you, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia), make sure there is an up-to-date monarch action plan and that it is being followed. Get your own MLA/MNA/MPP onside and

up-to-speed, and make sure he or she knows this is urgent and the thousands of kilometres of hydro and pipeline corridors are ideal for creating butterflyfriendly zones. This is also the level of government that needs to work with farmers to protect milkweed growth in hedgerows, siderows and similar essential pockets.

• Federally, remind your member

of Parliament and the ministers responsible that there is an urgent need for them to respond to the COSEWIC report declaring monarchs endangered. Make sure they know you care and that you are watching.

• Don’t forget the corporate

sector: Write or call the heads of hydroelectric companies, railway companies and pipeline companies, and ask that their right-of-way maintenance include a monarch restoration plan.

• Then, once you’ve worked the

phones and fired off the letters and emails, it’s time to enjoy some time in the garden, where you can continue your personal monarch action plan. • Continued on next page