Friends of the St. Clair River advocates for pollinator protection – The Voice

A group of Friends of the St. Clair River recently planted a pollinator garden. (Courtesy of Skyler Principe/Sheri Faust)

Summers in St. Clair County wouldn’t be the same without the beauty of monarch butterflies, and the Friends of the St. Clair River aims to equip gardeners with the knowledge they need to prevent their loss.

Skyler Principe, Friends program assistant, said via email that pollinator numbers are declining at a worrying rate around the world. He also said that many bees only take nectar and pollen from certain native plants and that many butterflies have specific host plants, such as milkweed, that their young need to survive.

“The main reasons for the decline in pollinator populations are habitat loss, climate change and overuse of pesticides. Habitat fragmentation is also a problem, meaning that only small and distant patches of suitable habitat are available to these species,” said Principe.

The Friends are highlighting pollinator protection during National Pollinator Week, June 17-23, but are planning additional pollinator protection efforts throughout the summer. Pollinators such as bees, butterflies, beetles, birds, flies and wasps transfer pollen from one flower to another.

The Friends released a Pollinator Pledge during National Pollinator Week at facebook.com/stclairriver, outlining five simple actions that provide food and shelter for local pollinators. A key part of the pledge is allowing existing native plants to thrive. Principe said the pledge also includes promises to avoid pesticides and replace invasive plant species.

“We hope that this commitment will make people more conscious about caring for their gardens,” said Principe.

Principe said the Friends currently teach classes about working with native plants and how to incorporate them into gardens every other Thursday at 10 a.m. at Pine Grove Park in Port Huron. The next date for the program is July 11.

“On June 20, we hosted a gardening day as part of the Pollinator Project at Pine Grove Park. During this event, we tended to the native plant gardens in the park to provide for Port Huron’s pollinators,” said Principe.

On Sept. 8, the Friends will host a native plant sale from noon to 3 p.m. at the Friends’ Thumb Coast Watershed Center, at the Eddy Community Center, 301 N. Ninth St. in St. Clair. For those who can’t make it to the sale, the group will offer free native seed libraries at the Thumb Coast Watershed Center or at St. Clair County Community College, 323 Erie St. in Port Huron.

The Friends also posted detailed guidelines on Facebook for setting up a Monarch Watch stopover for monarchs, including recommending that gardeners plant at least 10 native milkweeds of at least two species.

“Monarch butterflies really benefit from milkweeds like common milkweed, rose milkweed and butterfly milkweed. Milkweeds are the only group of plants that monarch caterpillars can eat,” Principe said.

Gardeners can apply for Monarch Waystation certification at monarchwatch.org/waystations.

“We are in the process of getting our native plant demonstration garden at the Thumb Coast Watershed Center certified as a Monarch Intermediate Station,” Principe said.

Principe said to keep an eye on the monarch butterfly population, the Friends have been working with the Michigan Butterfly Network at the Kalamazoo Nature Center since 2018. Through this partnership, volunteers learn how to collect data on local butterflies. The data is uploaded to the Michigan Butterfly Network to understand the health and diversity of the butterfly population. Principe said this allows for an assessment of the quality of ecosystems.

“In 2022, the latest year for which we have data, seven volunteer butterfly observers completed 53 surveys, documenting six sites,” Principe said.

Recently, a decline in the monarch butterfly population during the winter hibernation period was observed. According to Principe, the monarch butterflies gather in a forest in Mexico to overwinter.

“It’s impossible to determine where they came from unless they were tagged. Most monarch butterfly monitoring programs like Monarch Watch are continental in scope due to the migratory nature of these beautiful butterflies,” Principe said.

A monarch butterfly flash tagging event will take place on July 30 at the Blue Water River Walk. Principe said the monarch butterflies will be counted and tagged to track the migration via Monarch Watch. Monarch butterfly caterpillars and milkweed will also be counted. Details on the flash tagging and native plant sale can be found at scriver.org/events.

The Friends also offer a butterfly adoption program. Each adoption package includes a toy butterfly, a certificate with a tag number for a specific butterfly, a fabric bag, a butterfly identification guide and conservation information. Principe says adoption packages are available for individuals, businesses and classes. For information on the adoption packages, visit form.jotform.com/233234450887157.

Nicole Tuttle is a freelance reporter for The Voice.

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