September 18, 2024, Press Release from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources: COLUMBUS, Ohio – Picking and planting milkweed seed pods this fall can help future eastern monarch butterflies, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife. These butterflies are currently migrating through Ohio on their way to Mexico, where they spend the winter. Various species of milkweed are the only host plants for monarch caterpillars. Each spring, eastern monarchs lay eggs on milkweed as they migrate north from Mexico. Monarchs travel between 50 and 100 miles per day on a journey that may cover several thousand miles in total. After several generations, monarchs reach their northernmost range in southern Canada.

July 1, 2024, Press Release from the Ohio Division of Wildlife: TOLEDO, Ohio – Hawkins STEMM Academy in Lucas County was recently dedicated as a WILD School Site, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife. Wild School sites are supplementary education programs created by schools where students, teachers, and the community can come together and learn about wildlife and the environment. Hawkins STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine) Academy is the 211th WILD School Site in Ohio and the sixth in Lucas County. This is the first Toledo Public School to be certified as a WILD School Site.

The monarch is native to Ohio and many other states as it makes annual migrations to Mexico but conservationists warn that habitat destruction and climate change are threatening the iconic black and orange monarch butterfly. Local naturalists say that we can help by planting more of the plant that will feed their offspring.

Snowbirds are not the only ones thinking about heading south for the winter. Some of you may have seen hundreds, if not thousands of monarch butterflies in our area. Denise Fett has been enjoying the sight at her house outside of Bluffton, even if it is just a brief stop on their long journey to warmer temperatures for the winter.