Neniizaanak Wii Nigooshkaak – Species at Risk Program

Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory (WUT) is a community of Anishnaabek (Ojibwe, Odawa, Potawatomi nations) located in Ontario, Canada, on Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron.

Since 2007, Neniisaanak Wii Ngooshkaak (the Species at Risk Program of WUT’s Department of Lands and Natural Resources) has cared for more than 28 Endangered, Threatened, and Special Concern species in their territory, including the monarch.

In 2021, they organized a Monarch Migration Count and received more than 100 observations documenting several thousand migratory monarchs moving across the Manitoulin Region (their greater traditional territory).  They also collected local common milkweed seed and gave away more than 50 seed packets. Participants worked with school classes to plant milkweed plugs and also planted plugs in an old landfill that is being rehabilitated, with the hope to eventually turn the waste pile into pollinator habitat.