By Ida Rogers-Ferguson
Recently the federal government proposed a plan to save the monarch butterflies. I-35 is a major highway that connects Mexico to Minnesota and happens to be a major flyway for monarchs. The project nicknamed the Monarch Highway is a collaboration of six states one of which is Minnesota. The other five states include Iowa, Missouri, Texas, Kansas, and Oklahoma. Over the past few years the monarch population has been declining due to pollution, pesticides, and lack of milkweeds.
Milkweeds are essential to the monarch butterfly. The young caterpillars eat only the milkweed plant, and they are also used for the monarch’s to lay their eggs on. The rapidly decreasing amounts of milkweeds has affected the monarch population. With less milkweeds the fewer eggs are laid meaning fewer monarch butterflies.
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