Share:

Browse by category

Share:

Species at risk: The monarch butterfly (danaus plexippus)

A monarch butterfly

Photo: A monarch butterfly

By

Karen Abel

Environment, Natural heritage

Published Date: May 10, 2007

The beautiful Monarch butterfly is the most recognized butterfly in North America. What is not commonly known is that it is also a species at risk in Canada. Perhaps even lesser known is the monumental journey it makes twice a year. A mystery until recently, the migration of the Monarch is a fascinating story of survival and interdependency.

Each spring, the Monarch butterfly arrives in Ontario from as far south as Mexico – a 3,000 km (1,864 miles) journey! Throughout the summer, they search for milkweed plants where they lay eggs to produce new generations of Monarchs. In autumn, the migration begins again with millions of Monarchs making an exodus to their winter roosting grounds in Mexico’s volcanic mountains. They can be seen preparing for their arduous journey each fall – feeding on nectar from native wildflowers such as asters and goldenrods. Challenged by storms, cars and large bodies of water, few monarchs survive the complete journey. Along the way, eggs are laid on milkweeds to ensure many more generations of monarchs will continue the flight south.

Designated as a species of “Special concern” provincially and nationally, the survival of the Monarch butterfly is dependent on milkweed plants. Commonly growing in meadows and along roadsides, the milkweed is the sole food source for Monarch caterpillars. In Ontario, the survival of the Monarch is threatened by the widespread use of herbicides and pesticides. You can help protect the Monarch and aid its incredible migration by planting milkweeds and nectar-producing wildflowers in your garden.

RelatedStories

Children from Pelee Island Pubic School helping to collect seeds for restoration projects

Conserving what we value

It was my time to finally get my message across. About 15 years ago, the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) was beginning to purchase properties...

Photo courtesy of Clare Ronan

Reside: When heritage preservation translates to affordable housing

Raising the Roof is a Canadian charity that provides national leadership in homelessness prevention through various initiatives. Reside is one such project that creates affordable...

Muhammad Qureshi on a pond (Photo courtesy of Muhammad Qureshi)

Our natural fingerprint

The magic began on a cold autumn afternoon after a hockey game with friends. I was walking home through a trail and the leaves had...

Sunset over Manitoulin Island

Heaven on earth

A month before Ontario turns 150 years old, I’ll celebrate my 57th birthday. I’ve lived all but one of those years in the province of...

Cycling in the Don Valley

Reconnecting with nature

My first visit to Ontario, from Québec, was at about age 8. I have a distinct memory of arriving by car down the Don Valley...

Chinguacousy Badlands

Celebrating the Chinguacousy Badlands

The Chinguacousy (“land of the young pines”) Badlands have been visited by hundreds of thousands of Ontarians. This rapidly eroding clay-shale bedrock at the foot...

Wolves (Photo: Michael Runtz)

Drawn back to Algonquin

Being a lifelong naturalist whose goal has been to explore Ontario’s natural history, I’ve come to appreciate just how rich this province’s biodiversity is. The...

Oiseau Rock, a sacred site for aboriginal peoples who have left behind a remarkable legacy of ancient pictographs drawn using red ochre (Photo courtesy of Larry Graham)

Along the Ottawa River

The original Trans-Canada Highway The Ottawa River is one of Canada’s most important transportation routes, playing an integral role in many of the key stories...

An aerial view of the Enniskillen Valleylands (Photo courtesy of the Central Lake Ontario Conservation Authority)

The Enniskillen Valley Land Acquisition Project: Making stewardship count

Through the Enniskillen Valley Land Acquisition Project, The Ontario Heritage Trust and the Central Lake Ontario Conservation Authority (CLOCA) have successfully partnered to acquire natural...

Wood conservator and master craftsman Alan Stacey instructing heritage staff in traditional preservation techniques at the Ontario Heritage Centre.

Investing in preservation

It is an unfortunate reality that the preservation of our heritage remains the exception rather than the norm. What is a common-sense approach to living...

Dog-strangling vine or Cynanchum rossicum (also known as pale swallowwort) at Fleetwood Creek

Reclaiming Fleetwood Creek

It’s hard to put a price on experience. Students enrolled in Sir Sandford Fleming College’s Ecosystem Management Technology (EMT) program understand this. During the program’s...

Fleming College students with Kawartha Conservation Area Coordinator Jessie James, preparing to gather data on the Fleetwood Creek plantations, spring 2010

A plantation management strategy for Fleetwood Creek Natural Area

Fleetwood Creek Natural Area, a 360-hectare (890-acre) property on the Oak Ridges Moraine, is valued for its unique post-glacial geographic features, diverse resident breeding bird...

The Alexander Hope Smith property

Saving biodiversity, one property at a time

What do wetlands and forest nesting sites for northern goshawks in eastern Ontario have in common with south-central Ontario cold-water streams harbouring brook trout and...

Planted area of lowland species expanding existing cover adjacent to the former pasture on the Blair property (Photo: John Stille).

New life for an old property

Heritage restoration is not limited to old buildings. Natural heritage properties, too, can be restored or adapted to new uses for future generations to enjoy...

Sheppard's Bush ostrich ferns

Biodiversity in Ontario: Taking up the challenge

Many are familiar with high-profile threatened species such as polar bears, whose habitat is in flux and whose numbers are dropping, or bald eagles, once...

Fieldworker on ice ridges overlooking Lake Nipissing at Great Manitou Island, 2010.

Working with stewards and partners

The Ontario Heritage Trust owns over 160 natural heritage properties and protects over 40 natural heritage sites with easements. Because the Trust cannot manage and...

Ruby-throated hummingbird at a cardinal flower in the Native Plants Garden (Photo: Jon Brierley).

Enhancing urban biodiversity

Inside the Gosling Wildlife Gardens By Chris Earley Most gardeners are biodiversity geeks. “What little plant can I cram in there? Which spring bloomer can...

Aerial view of the northern tip of Walpole Island First Nation looking southwest along the St. Clair River (Photo: Karen Abel)

Bkejwanong: Sustaining a 6,000-year-old conservation legacy

Nestled at the mouth of the St. Clair River on Lake St. Clair in southwestern Ontario is the Walpole Island First Nation or “Bkejwanong,” meaning...

The heart of the Ruthven estate is this two-and-a-half-storey limestone Greek Revival-style mansion

Heritage in harmony: The integration of natural and cultural landscapes

Approximately 11,000 years of human culture are recorded in Ontario’s landscapes. Most existing natural landscapes in Ontario today have intrinsic cultural heritage meaning and significance...

Smallwood calculated that saving the Wallis House (shown here) diverted the equivalent of 500,000 blue boxes of debris from entering landfill

Discarding the past

When an old building is torn down, we lose more than just the structure. We lose a bit of our past. The foundation walls and...

The Wychwood Barns covered street is a popular weekly Saturday farmers’ market in Toronto (Photo courtesy of Ayako Kitta, du Toit Architects Limited)

Resources: Heritage in the new economy - Making sense of sustainability

What's on the shelf The Shield, part of the Ontario Visual Heritage Project. Over thousands of years, a select few have carved out lives for...

Cheesemonger at the St. Lawrence Market, Toronto (Photo © Ontario Tourism 2009)

100-mile conservation

Increasingly, people are becoming more aware of not just what they eat, but where their food originates. While the concept is by no means new...

Meagan (left) discusses Canadian climate change policies with MP Jim Prentice (third from right) and Canadian negotiators at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in December 2008.

Working for change

Protecting the environment and natural heritage has become an important part of my life over the past few years. While busy as a Grade 1...

A beaver pond on the recently acquired Carp Hills property

Protecting Ottawa’s Carp Hills

Just north of the Village of Carp lie the Carp Hills – one of the largest and wildest natural areas within the City of Ottawa...

The Arctic Watershed is the natural high point where rivers and lakes flow in one direction towards Hudson’s Bay and in the other towards the Great Lakes. Shown here, Old Fort William, Thunder Bay (Photo © Ontario Tourism 2008)

Along the Arctic Watershed

The Arctic Watershed follows an erratic course of some 2,240 kilometres (1,400 miles) across northern Ontario. It marks the point where rivers and streams in...

Traditional building materials (McMartin House, Perth)

Building assets

Which is more sustainable – an artificial or live Christmas tree? This is an environmentalist’s conundrum, and it illustrates the paradox of “sustainable” building materials...

Repairs to the Gordon Block, Stratford (2007)

The guiding principles of sustainable architecture

In the late 1990s, the Ontario Ministry of Culture introduced Eight Guiding Principles in the Conservation of Built Heritage Properties, which are in common use...

Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) – special concern provincially and nationally

Sustaining species at risk

Ontario, with its broad geography, is blessed with incredible biologically diverse landscapes. Most of us take this amazing biodiversity for granted and do not fully...

Beaver River Wetland (Photo: Lou Wise)

Exploring the Beaver River Wetland

In June 2007, the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority (LSRCA) hosted a celebration to recognize the private and public efforts to protect two recently acquired...

Sheppard’s Bush, main house

Inside Sheppard’s Bush

Charles Sheppard (1876-1967) moved to the Town of Aurora in 1921, after making his fortune in the Simcoe County lumber industry. Brooklands, his modest estate...

View of the Don Valley Brick Works site, looking south (Photo courtesy of Evergreen)

Evergreen Brick Works: Rethinking space

Evergreen – a national charity – builds the relationship between nature, culture and community in urban spaces. With its revitalization of Toronto’s Don Valley Brick...

401 Richmond Street, Toronto – an example of a green roof

Fact or fiction: Demystifying the myths around going green – Moving toward a more sustainable architecture

Sustainable: able to be maintained at a certain rate or level . . . conserving an ecological balance by avoiding a depletion of natural resources...

Tip Top Lofts, Toronto (Photo: Context Development)

Sustainability for old buildings: A developer’s perspective

Adaptive reuse provides a sound and sustainable approach to the renewal of our urban fabric, as illustrated by the conversion of three Toronto buildings to...

Archaeological assessment of a Trust natural heritage property

Tools through time: Protecting the past for the future

Identifying and protecting places in our communities that have cultural heritage value is an important part of managing change. Heritage buildings, archaeological sites and cultural...

Hiking the Oaks Ridges Moraine Trail

Along the Oak Ridges Moraine Trail

Hiking along the Oak Ridges Moraine Trail offers a memorable experience. Situated close to the Greater Toronto Area, the Trail provides an opportunity to encounter...

Homewood Museum in Maitland

Heritage by numbers

Ontario’s heritage is an immense and complex jigsaw puzzle. Every individual element of heritage creates a whole . . . a sort of heritage by...

This 1958 provincial plaque unveiling to commemorate Catharine Parr Traill was attended by Mrs. Anne Atwood and Miss Anne Traill, the author’s granddaughters. Also in attendance (shown here second from left) was the then-editor of the Peterborough Examiner – Robertson Davies – who, in time, became a literary giant in his own right.

Literary giants

Catharine Parr Traill is one of Canada’s literary luminaries. Her life story spans most of the 19th century, crossing oceans, battling cholera and journeying through...

The Brent Crater

Giant meteorite slams Algonquin Park

Well, that would have been the headline 450 million years ago. Today, it is a fascinating mark on our natural landscape. This is not a...

Butterfly milkweed (Photo: Karen Abel)

It’s not easy staying green: Working for a green and healthy Ontario

Natural heritage conservation can be traced back to the early times of the First Nations, whose close relationship with nature was reflected in religious beliefs...

This majestic beech tree is located at Toronto’s Ashbridge Estate, a property owned and operated by the Ontario Heritage Trust

Remarkable trees – Heritage tree preservation in Ontario

What is heavier than any land animal, taller than most buildings, older than many ancient monuments? One of the world’s oldest living organisms are –...

Hiking near Killarney (Photo: Ontario Tourism)

Making tracks

Ontario’s 64,000-km network of trails traverses a varied landscape of wilderness, rural and urban areas. These trails range from waterways and portage routes to footpaths...

An urban garden with gray-headed coneflower, a native prairie species

Gardening for biodiversity

Many gardeners today are finding enjoyable and educational ways to participate in the promotion and preservation of Ontario’s natural heritage through the creation of habitat-inspired...

Willem Hanrath, with his children and grandchildren, being presented with an Ontario Heritage Trust easement marker to recognize their generous donation of the natural heritage easement for the Caistor-Canborough Slough Forest ANSI (47 acres/19 hectares)

The anatomy of a heritage conservation easement: Building the framework for a conservation partnership

Private landowners are often faced with a difficult dilemma – how to preserve the heritage of their land for future generations in a world where...

Lone Pine Marsh, Braham

Our provincial tree: The eastern white pine

Builders of British sailing ships during the 1800s sought the tall, straight white pine for the masts. The best trees in British North America were...

Backus Woods

Giving back to nature

Southwestern Ontario sustains the richest array of flora and fauna in the country. Known as Canada’s deep south, this area includes sassafras, flowering dogwood, tulip...

Site discussion at Speyside Woods about property management with staff from the Bruce Trail Association, the Ontario Heritage Trust, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Conservation Halton (Photo: Eric Boysen, Ministry of Natural Resources)

Working together to save our natural heritage

With ongoing development pressures for housing, roads and commercial and industrial activities in Ontario, natural heritage protection has become more critical than ever before in...

A bequest from Barbara Elizabeth Jacquith of Carolinian forest contains a tributary of the Credit River and an important water recharge area

Protecting natural spaces in Southern Ontario

On August 3, 2005 the provincial government announced the creation of the Natural Spaces Program, which included a $6-million allocation to the Ontario Heritage Trust...

Coldwater Grist Mill – serving the community since 1833; an active part of Doors Open Huronia since 2002

The new Ontario Heritage Act: The evolution of heritage conservation

An important shift has occurred in Ontario’s legislative framework for heritage conservation. On April 28, 2005, the Ontario Heritage Amendment Act (Bill 60) received royal...

The Cheltenham Badlands

Visiting the Cheltenham Badlands

Nestled on the Niagara Escarpment amid the rolling countryside of the Caledon Hills lies a unique landscape locally known as the Cheltenham Badlands. The site...

Tree in winter

Gifts of nature

The Egbert Ross Boothby property Imagine a plot of land on the Lake of Bays, seemingly untouched by human habitation. It has almost a mile...

Flooding in Toronto caused by Hurricane Hazel (Photo: Madeleine McDowell)

Hurricane Hazel 50 years later

There was little warning about Hurricane Hazel – one of the worst storms in Canada’s history. At the time, few Canadians paid attention to tropical...

Share:
Share: