Butterfly ‘Seeds’ Are Free!

The Norwalk Land Trust is preparing packets of milkweed seeds to distribute to the public free of charge in a campaign to reverse the dwindling population of monarch butterflies.
    
It has become apparent there are far fewer numbers of the iconic insects this season in the Norwalk area, the Northeast and the entire U.S.
    
The full extent of the decline has not been scientifically calculated. But the loss is unarguably of a significant magnitude. eNature estimates it could be as much as 90 percent from a 20-yrear average.
    
One reason—not the only one—is the absence of milkweed. The plant is largely regarded as a noxious invasive and property owners generally pull it out of the ground.
    
But the plants with their pink blossoms are vital as a depository for eggs and a source of food that sustain the four-stage life cycle of the monarch butterfly and its yearly migration, one of nature’s great phenomena.
     
A team of environmental activists from the Norwalk Land Trust assembled in the fall of 2013 and planted swaths of milkweed in the meadow at the Farm Creek Preserve in Rowayton.
    
Now the volunteers expect to harvest the pods in a few weeks and intend to separate the pods and package the seeds for distribution by mail with planting instructions.  Apply for seeds by emailing info@norwalklandtrust.org.
   
Mary Verel, the guidance counselor at Norwalk High School for many years and a retiree today like others in the planting party, said: “We are interested in all pollinators—bees are another example—and the monarch butterfly is a good place to start.”
    
Two Master Gardeners, Sarah Graber and Carol Guinta, are working with Verel. So are Peggy Holton and Marny Smith, a past president of the nonprofit NLT.
    
Aside from the absence of milkweed, pesticides, climate change and logging in the monarch butterfly’s winter habitat in Mexico, have devastated the profuse migrations that ride the thermal updrafts for up to 3,000 miles each year.
    
Three flyways extend across the continent north-to-south and back between Canada and Mexico, extending over the East Coast, the Midwest and the West. Earlier initiatives to restore the presence of milkweed in the middle flyway have been reported helpful in reviving the species.   
   
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Submitted by Norwalk, CT

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