“Public lands account for a substantial portion of the West. These lands are essential for the conservation of the western population of the monarch butterfly, yet unanswered questions remain about the western monarch’s distribution and the effect of current land management practices on this animal’s breeding and migration habitat” (Xerces 2015).

This project involves the “development of a prescriptive framework to guide existing monarch management activities on public lands in the West [using a] four-tiered approach: 1) Identify existing monarch breeding habitat in areas of the West where information is lacking; 2) Develop and distribute a survey to land managers to clarify the management regimes that may affect monarch reproduction and survival in the West; 3) Develop best management practices (BMPs) to improve habitat for milkweed and monarchs on public lands in the West; and 4) Provide capacity building for land managers who seek to manage habitat for the benefit of monarch butterflies through workshops, presentations, and one-on-one consulting” (Xerces 2015).

Collaborators on the project include Matt Forister of the University of Nevada, Reno, staff from the USFWS Pacific and Pacific Southwest regions, the BLM, staff at the USFS Intermountain and Pacific Southwest regions, and Monarch Joint Venture.

• Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. 2015. Filling Information Gaps and Developing Best Management Practices to Sustain Monarchs and Milkweeds in Public Lands of the Western US Grant proposal to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Monarch Butterfly Conservation Fund.

Keywords: milkweed, western habitat