Looking Back on Recent Progress for Monarchs in DuPage

 By Lonnie Morris

It’s September and the super generation of monarch butterflies is beginning its journey south for the winter.  It’s sometimes called the Methuselah generation because monarchs born in late summer live from September to March, the time needed to migrate thousands of miles to Mexico, then rest for a few months before beginning the trip north in spring.

This is the time for the last monarch sighting of the season. You can see them searching for nectar, riding the wind south, or roosting at night. As the butterflies leave Illinois, let’s take a moment to look back on how their summer stay in DuPage has been made safer and healthier over the past seven years.

Photo by Lonnie Morris

In 2015, DuPage Monarch Project began with a group of concerned volunteers ready to take action to protect monarchs and pollinators. They knew something serious was happening, and local solutions were needed.

It was the same year the population of eastern migrating monarch butterflies was measured at 1.13 hectares. This was an increase from the previous year but still one of the lowest numbers ever recorded. The Center for Biological Diversity had only months earlier filed a petition to protect monarchs as a “threatened” species. They were threatened by a loss of habitat, exposure to pesticides, and more frequently occurring extreme weather events produced by climate change.

The DMP founders adopted engagement, education, and support of new and enhanced healthy habitat as the best approach for saving monarchs. Engagement extended awareness throughout the entire county from Naperville to Elmhurst, education provided the foundation for informed decisions--both needed for more habitat to happen.

In the past seven years, 27 park districts and municipalities have signed resolutions of commitment to providing new or enhanced monarch habitat, and 11 groups became DMP associate members. Their combined efforts have added hundreds of acres of natural areas on public land, along with improving parking lot islands, detention basins, sidewalk planters, and gardens with native species.

Monarch butterflies were woven into West Chicago’s identity and culture through murals, hosting documentary viewings, sponsoring public art exhibits, and planting a garden in the shape of a butterfly. 

West Chicago’s Year of the Butterfly and Elmhurst Cool Cities Coalition’s Start in Your Yard campaign fostered awareness of the importance of biodiversity. Westmont’s No Mow till Mother’s Day launched a new appreciation for how a small change in lawn care can make a major difference for bees. It continues to spark conversations and inspire other communities to offer residents a No Mow May option. Gardens and lawns are now being seen in a new light, as both beautiful and a place where bees and butterflies can thrive.

All of this came about from the dedication of DuPage Monarch Project’s board members and volunteers, many of whom are working quietly behind the scenes. It’s time to give them a shout out and say thanks for making DuPage a haven for monarch butterflies.

DuPage Monarch Project Board

Anamari Dorgan - Director of Community Engagement Services, Forest Preserve District DuPage County

Connie Schmidt - Chair, River Prairie Group of the Illinois Sierra Club

Jim Kleinwachter - Conservation@Home, The Conservation Foundation

Jeanette Goodlow – Membership and Outreach Chair, Wild Ones Greater DuPage

DuPage Monarch Project Volunteers

Bruce Blake - Garden Specialist DMP, Prairie Wind Native Plants: Native American Plants for Home Gardens

Karen Brittain - Volunteer

Andres Ortega - Science Consultant DMP, Ecologist, FPD

Jill Spealman - Educator DMP, Naturalist

Kim White - Educator DMP, Natural Naturalist

Is your community or organization a member of DuPage Monarch Project? Check here. 

Email dupagemonarchs@gmail.com to learn more about joining.