Wildlife refuge employees, volunteers plant milkweed

Why are butterflies important?

That’s the question several wildlife and conservation agencies and organizations are answering, in the context of public demonstrations and work events.

Last week’s example was a planting session of milkweed in a butterfly garden at Mariposa Park, located northeast of Newton along County Road T12 East. A group of volunteers and employees of Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge and Jasper County Conservation teamed up to help put in plants that will help lure butterflies to the area.

Katie Cantu, a naturalist with Jasper County Conservation, said butterflies are not only a visually important part of a green, wetland space like the Mariposa lake and park, but also essential players in the environmental game.

“More than three-fourths of the world’s flowering plants rely on pollinators (such as butterflies, bees, etc.) to reproduce, meaning pollinators help produce one out of every three bites of food Americans eat,” Cantu said. “ The Monarch butterfly is of significant interest right now because the population is at an all-time low. Monarch butterflies will only lay their eggs on milkweed plants because when the caterpillars hatch, that is what they eat.”

The MonarchWatch Program is a nonprofit education, conservation and research program, based at the University of Kansas, and dedicated to the proliferation of butterflies. Cantu said MonarchWatch contacted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service about planting more milkweeds to benefit Monarch butterflies, and Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge is one of the locations that received 5,000 milkweed plugs and grant money for future pollinator projects.

NSNWR staff then contacted partners in central Iowa that would be willing to help plant the milkweed. These partners included the Blank Park Zoo, Saylorville Lake, Red Rock and Jasper County Conservation.

Cantu was joined at the planting by refuge seasonal employee Eric Christensen, wildlife refuge specialist Richard Hager and interns Ryan Yordanoff and Janean Stewart, Jasper County Conservation naturalist Greg Oldsen, Jasper County park officer Dennis Cooling, volunteer Kim Routh and her grandson, Andrew Bowes.

“We have always had a good partnership with the refuge,” Cantu said.”We planted 200 milkweed plants in and around the butterfly garden at the park.”

The milkweed is one of many efforts to make improvements at Mariposa. In 2013, the Jasper County Board of Supervisors approved a request to go ahead with a restoration project at the 151-acre park, to be funded in three annual $200,000 allocations.

An ongoing protection and improvement project is taking place at the man-made lake, built in 1952. The 18-acre area houses a watershed of 580 acres, existing completely in northeast Jasper County. The Jasper County Conservation Board manages the lake.

Cantu said it’s important to have summer destinations for Monarchs.

“They are the only species of butterfly that migrates south in the winter, meaning that not only do they need milkweed plants here in the Midwest for egg-laying, but they also need protection in the forests of central Mexico, where they spend the winter,” she said. “Planting more milkweed — along with reduced mowing and spraying — will greatly help these butterflies out. Planting flowers that will provide a nectar source for butterflies is also important.”

Cantu said the group that helped with last week’s planting got an quick, inspirational message about the impact of its work.

“As we moved from one area that had been planted to another, immediately, a monarch flew over our new milkweeds and lightly landed on several of them,” Cantu said. “Upon closer investigation, it was a female laying tiny white eggs. It was unbelievable how fast she found our new plants — and very exciting to watch.”

Contact Jason W. Brooks at 641-792-3121 ext. 6532 or jbrooks @newtondailynews.com