Mota-Sanchez video gives us a look at Mexico’s monarch sanctuaries

Entomologist David Mota-Sanchez is part of the USDA NC-507 monarch butterfly conservation rapid response team that is surveying and improving monarch butterfly habitat in the north central states.

Monarch butterfly on ironweed

Entomologist David Mota-Sanchez is part of the USDA NC-507 monarch butterfly conservation rapid response team that is surveying and improving monarch butterfly habitat in the north central states. With its millions of acres planted with field crops and grasslands as well as other areas suitable for monarch butterflies, Michigan is very important to the butterfly’s survival. In February 2016, Mota-Sanchez traveled to the monarch overwintering sites in Mexico. Unfortunately, following a season of population growth in the United States, an unusual frost event killed millions of butterflies in Mexico.

Take a look at “Saving monarch butterflies,” a video from Mota-Sanchez’s travels to the sanctuaries. For tips about planting habitat for monarchs in Michigan and similar climates, see “Growing milkweeds for monarch butterflies” by Michigan State University Extension.

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