Date: 04/24/2018

Number: 145

This is a monarch we found today and what the Rose Vervain should look like.

We drove to Grandview Prairie again today to check on the monarchs and milkweed. Today is a sunny day and the temperature was 73 F. We were able to count 145 monarchs during the two hours we were there -- most were feeding on Rose Vervain or flying fairly low to the ground. The only milkweed we were able to find was A. viridis and we found very little of it. There were no eggs on any of the plants we found and there were only one or two that had small holes in some of the leaves that looked like larvae had started to feed but we didn't see any. There were no signs of the A. tuberosa we sent pictures of earlier.

The thing that troubled us the most was that all of the road sides at Grandview had been sprayed with some sort of herbicide and more than half of the Rose Vervain was dead. It made up most of the nectar plants that had been available to the butterflies - others are coming along but have not started blooming yet. We understand that they must keep the road ways open by using the most cost effective way they can, but there seems like there should be a better way to deal with plants along the road ways than to use poison, or at least as much as was used there. It is a problem along most of the roads in Arkansas. The herbicide seems to be the method of choice to keep weeds and other plants from getting too close to the roads. Enough venting - here is a some picture so you can see what is happening. It just seems odd that when states are just beginning to come on board and restoring milkweed plots and planting nectar plants that they would continue the use of all the herbicides.

Poisoned Vervain along one of the road ways.

Columbus, AR

Latitude: 33.8 Longitude: -93.8

Observed by: Anita
Contact Observer

The observer's e-mail address will not be disclosed.
Contact will be made through a web-based form.