Helping Monarch Butterflies
Did you know Hopkins Wilderness Park in Redondo Beach (one of South Bay Parkland Conservancy’s habitat restoration sites) is an important overwintering site for the Western Monarch? Overwintering sites are special groves of trees or shrubs where Western Monarch butterflies shelter for winter. In late 2024 South Bay Parkland Conservancy received a $40k grant from the US Fish and Wildlife Service for Western Monarch and Pollinator Habitat Restoration at Hopkins Wilderness Park.
The map above shows Western Monarch overwintering locations in the South Bay. Click to view a pdf.
This five year project will restore 6 acres of native coastal sage scrub, providing habitat for western monarch butterflies during the winter months. Overwintering is a vital phase in the Western Monarch butterfly's life cycle. It provides a specialized microclimate for rest and energy conservation before spring mating and migration north.
The coastal sage scrub community of native plants, is found closer to the coast, and is populated by shorter, softer, and drought-deciduous plants such as Sea Cliff Buckwheat, Purple Sage, Bush Sunflower and California Sagebrush. It once dominated Southern California. Estimates say anywhere from 60-90 percent or more of this habitat has been lost to development and other anthropogenic threats including wildfires, habitat fragmentation and climate change. Rare coastal sage scrub habitat provides a home for the threatened gnatcatcher, cactus wren, endangered El Segundo blue butterfly, and many other species.
Butterflies, like the monarch, are important because they are pollinators. Pollinators are animals that help plants make fruit or seeds for reproduction. They face many threats including loss of habitat, non-native invasive species, pollution, and climate change.
Why are pollinators important ?
One out of every three bites of food you eat exists because of the efforts of pollinators, including many fruits, vegetables, and seeds. Pollinators are not only necessary for our own food, but to support the food and habitat of animals.
Healthy ecosystems depend on pollinators. At least 75 percent of all the flowering plants on earth are pollinated by insects and animals!
What Makes Monarch Butterflies Unique?
Monarch (Danaus plexippus)
Only butterfly species that migrate round trip, traveling from Canada to warmer climates every Fall
One of the longest migratory routes of any insect
The bright coloring of a monarch serves as a warning to predators that eating them may cause a toxic reaction
Butterfly “Metamorphosis” or transformation
Each year, starting in Spring, monarch butterflies have four generations of young. The butterflies of the first three generations mate and lay eggs within a few weeks of the butterfly coming out of its chrysalis.
The eggs hatch in a few weeks, then the caterpillars feed on the leaves of the host plant while they grow in five stages. At the end of the fifth stage, the monarch caterpillar forms a chrysalis that protects it while it metamorphoses into a new monarch butterfly. The fourth generation of monarchs arrives as the native milkweeds go “dormant” for the winter. Dormant means the top of the plant dies away and stores energy in the roots for the next spring.
With no food and cooler temperatures, the new monarchs know they have no place to lay their eggs and they have to migrate to a milder climate to find nectar all winter until the native milkweeds grow again in spring. The monarchs migrate to mild climate areas with groves of trees where they “overwinter”. Overwintering monarch butterflies sleep in certain trees each night, hanging upside down and huddling together for heat. During the day they forage for nectar. In spring they migrate back to their summer homes and start the breeding cycle all over again.
How can you help?
Plant native milkweed (narrow leaf milkweed; Asclepias fascicularis )
Plant native flowering plants: flower nectar is needed for adults throughout the breeding season, migration & overwintering
Preserve large trees & avoid petrochemical use
HOST PLANT
Native milkweeds such as the narrow leaf milkweed (above) provide a necessary host plant for our Western Monarch butterflies west of the Rocky Mountains. Native milkweeds go “dormant” in Winter. This matches the breeding and migration cycle of our monarchs. Non-native milkweeds disrupt the breeding, migration, and overwintering of our butterflies. They can also build up a spore that results in disease in the monarchs.
Pictured below from left to right: Fall bloomer - California fuchsia, Winter bloomer - lemonade berry, Spring bloomers - California lupines, and California sages
For more information on Western Monarch overwintering counts visit the Xerces Society.