Supporting Monarch Butterflies

Have you been to Natural Bridges during the monarch butterfly migration each October? Well, next time you head out to see our annual tiny orange visitors, you might notice that the Overwintering Grove looks a bit different. Our team recently teamed up with the Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz (RCD) and Groundswell Coastal Ecology to complete pilot fuels reduction (the removal of dead vegetation) at Natural Bridges to support overwintering monarchs for years to come.

Overwintering is a fancy way of saying “stay for the winter”. The western population of monarch butterflies migrate to and from habitats west of the Rocky Mountains each year, and overwinter here in Santa Cruz!

Adults lay their eggs on young milkweed plants. Fun fact: eating Milkweed makes monarch caterpillars toxic to other animals. The toxins stay in the adult butterfly to provide life-long protection from predators!

This is one of the top sites for the Western population of monarch butterflies. Thousands of them visit each year, and rely on Natural Bridge’s mild climate and abundant eucalyptus grove for a safe resting place during annual migrations.

The Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz County received a grant from the California Association of Resource Conservation Districts (CARCD) funded by the Wildlife Conservation Board to help monarch populations in Santa Cruz County. They teamed up with local non-profit Groundswell Coastal Ecology, who works with California State Parks and others to write local monarch management plans and do on-the-ground conservation actions for three high-priority overwintering sites, one of which is Natural Bridges. The plan highlights actions to improve habitat, including fuel reduction measures. Fuels are an issue here, and management of dead vegetation will help to keep the monarch grove resilient to fire and recruit seedlings.

RCD hired our team to work with Groundswell Ecology and State Parks to tackle the fuel reduction work required to make the project a success. Together, our goal was to remove deadfall and overgrown vegetation to help promote new plant recruitment and enhance the attributes of the grove that support monarch overwintering at the site.

After about a week of work, our team reduced fuels in several areas that will serve to reduce the risk of fire and recruit the next generation of monarch roosting and windbreak trees. Check out some photos of the work below, and experience it for yourself this upcoming fall.