Idaho monarch butterflies being monitored

BOISE - Idaho's state insect is the monarch butterfly, but very little is known about monarchs in Idaho, or milkweed - which monarchs use exclusively for breeding. About 40 volunteers spent a weekend last month learning how to monitor monarchs and milkweed.

A new federal grant of $170,000 will help the states of Idaho and Washington find out more about the species. The Idaho Department of Fish and Game wildlife biologist Beth Waterbury says digital records about monarchs and milkweed in Idaho are basically nonexistent, so they'll comb through historical data, then do on-the-ground surveys.

She describes their approach as, "Try and find existing populations of milkweeds and then, survey those milkweed patches for monarch breeding activity."

A lot of research has been done on monarchs that migrate between Mexico and the Midwest and Northeast, but Idaho monarchs mostly overwinter in California. The butterflies that overwinter in Mexico have declined by up to 90 percent and there is a petition to list monarch butterflies under the Endangered Species Act.

Waterbury led a research project last summer in Lemhi County, after she noticed an abundance of milkweed, where monarchs lay their eggs.

"We were surprised and excited about the level of monarch activity - from the adults coming in, in early June, and then the breeding cycle and possibly two generations of monarchs being produced in the Lemhi Valley area," she says.

The newly trained citizen scientists will adopt milkweed patches throughout the state for monitoring, as well as tag monarchs and test for parasitic infections.