April 2016 - Parks & Recreation - 57

The city of Hagerstown, Maryland Department of Parks
and Engineering, in partnership with the local Kiwanis
Club, dedicated its new trailside park near Antietam Creek
as a monarch waystation.

example of the great uncertainty
from year to year. "
Taylor says to double or even quadruple the present number of monarchs would still not be a success.
" We need a much bigger overwintering population. The bottom line is
that we have to increase the number
of monarchs [by creating more habitat] so that the population is resilient
enough to withstand extreme events. "
What Park and Rec Agencies
Say They Need
In late December 2015, NRPA surveyed a group of almost 900 park and
recreation agencies to ask what they
were doing for monarch conservation
and what their greatest needs were.
The survey generated 120 responses. Some of the topline findings were:
* 53 percent of agencies are already
engaged in monarch conservation
and 45 percent are also working
on other pollinator conservation
activities.
* 84 percent are planting milkweed
plants or seeds and 76 percent are
creating monarch waystations.
* Among agencies that have installed
a monarch waystation, 73 percent
have between one and five, and 27

percent have installed more than
five.
* A significant amount of agencies
- 36 percent - said they had
more than 10 acres dedicated to
monarch habitat restoration.
With regard to engaging and educating the public, 64 percent of
agencies said they had educational
displays or signs and two-thirds said
they held educational programs for
children and adults in their parks and
centers. Regrettably, 16 percent of
agencies said they were providing no
education to the public about monarch conservation.
Many agencies are already engaged in advanced monarch conservation activities such as tagging and
releasing, monitoring monarch larva
with citizen volunteers, holding butterfly counts or surveys and hosting monarch festivals or plant sales.
Regrettably, 33 percent of agencies
are not utilizing volunteers at all for
monarch conservation.
Key takeaways from the survey
questions and comments included
a strong desire for low-cost or free
milkweed plants (80 percent); training for staff and volunteers through
webinars, conference sessions or on-

line
information (77 percent); and
funding for monarch
conservation projects and
programs (76 percent).
The survey results give a good picture of where NRPA member agencies are engaged on the spectrum of
monarch conservation actions. Forty-six percent said they were " just
getting started; " 30 percent rated
themselves as " adequate - could
use some additional resources and
training; " and 20 percent of agencies
rated themselves as " advanced " in
working on monarch conservation
and education activities.
Overall, most agencies said
they needed more funding and resources. One commenter said,
" Our agency has ample land for
monarch habitat creation, however,
we lack the staff time and resources
to take our efforts to the next level. "
Many respondents took time to
reply to this request: " Please comment on your agency's monarch
conservation efforts, particularly what you think has been most
successful and what you see as the
greatest challenges. " To read more
about the survey, including com-

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April 2016 - Parks & Recreation

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