Local News

Jun 12, 2017

Photo by Doug Loyer A Zebra Swollowtail butterfly lands on an Orange Butterfly Milkweed plant near a walking path at the Ohio River Islands National Wildlife Refuge Visitors Center.

By planting more milkweed plants, it will help the habitat support more butterflies as they breed and prepare for migration.

According to Monarch Watch, a non-profit organization that works for the conservation of Monarch butterflies, Monarch butterfly populations are declining. That is due to the loss of their habitat. To assure the future of monarchs, they are actively promoting the conservation and restoration of milkweeds and emphasize that it should become a national priority.

Today, we will be planting common milkweed at the refuge. This milkweed was free for us, said Matt Bristol, Wildlife Refuge Specialist. We were able to get the milkweed through Monarch Watch.

The host plant of a Monarch butterfly is milkweed, explained Bristol. The Monarch Watch Organization had grants available where they were giving away free milkweed plants. Bristol applied for a grant last fall and the refuge was awarded over 100 of the milkweed plants. They are small little seedlings.

Photo by Doug Loyer Wildlife Refuge Specialist Matt Bristol, staff and volunteers get milkweed plants ready to be planted.

On Saturday, those milkweed plants were added to the refuge with the help of volunteers to enhance the habitat and milkweeds that they already had.

Each butterfly has one or few host species of plants. The butterflies lay their eggs on those plants. The larvae eat the milkweed plant material and turns into a butterfly later. The milkweed is also a good nectar plant for butterflies and bees.

Ive seen some Monarchs moving through already, said Bristol. They are an interesting species because many of them migrate from Mexico through North America, breed and then migrate back. They need good breeding sites and we are in their breeding range. Thats where they would need the milkweed and nectar as well.

Bristol said people can help out the butterflies in their own yards by planting pollinator gardens. You can use a portion of your lawn and plant a wildflower seed mix and this would give you more diversity of plant species. Youd have flowers all summer, its looks nice and also provides nectar for the butterflies plus some milkweed. Theres several companies out there that sell those mixes.

The butterfly to me is like Art on Wings,' said volunteer Judy Parrish, of Vienna, and a member of the Parkersburg Womans Club. The General Federation of Womans Clubs are involved in conservation and ecology, those areas of life that tend to be overlooked.

Photo by Doug Loyer Longtime refuge volunteer Jon Benedetti finds a spot for a milkweed plant.

This is an absolutely beautiful place, said Parrish. I want to make sure we continue to have butterflies and the beauty that they provide.

One long-time refuge volunteer since the late 90s is Jon Benedetti of Vienna.

One of my hobbies is birding and we need to have places like this, said Benedetti. I think its pretty important.

Benedetti has been a birder since 1957 when he was in the Boy Scouts. He found that he really enjoyed it and just kept doing it.

Habitats need to be preserved if theyre going to live, emphasized Benedetti. He said he is appreciative that the government is responsible enough to have the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service and agencies like that which are trying to do something to maintain the environment at healthy level.

Theres a really good effort being made here at this refuge, said Benedetti. The staff here does a really nice job. They really care and do their level best to keep it going.

Birding and enjoying nature is a family passion as Jons wife, Judy Benedetti was also volunteering Saturday. She too, appreciates nature and enjoys what the refuge has to offer and enjoys being part of the effort to maintain and enhance it.

The Ohio River Islands National Wildlife Refuge is fully staffed and this summer even has five SCA (Student Conservation Association) interns helping out. One such intern is Melissa Cannell from Chicago who was helping to plant milkweed Saturday. Cannell is a graduate of Northern Illinois University with a degree in business marketing and is enthusiastic about her intern experience at the refuge.

I really like being outdoors and public spaces and sharing the love of the outdoors with others. Im loving my time here. Its fantastic, said Cannell. Its a nice quiet place and theres lots of nice people. Its really welcoming. It feels great.

Another passionate nature-lover helping out was Virginia Graves of Marietta.

Its a treasure that theyre preserving these areas, said Graves. This is something I really enjoy doing.

Graves said its fun to see the Monarchs. She has some milkweed plants in her yard at home as well, mentioning that she had six caterpillars at one point last year. When she went back out later, she only had two left. She explained that sometimes predators eat them. To protect the caterpillars, some people put them on their sun porches until they hatch and then release them.

The Ohio River Islands National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1990. The refuge protects and conserves habitat for native wildlife in one of our nations busiest waterways. The refuge covers 22 islands and four mainland tracts that lie along 362 miles of the Ohio River in three states (West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Kentucky.)

The refuge and visitors center is open year-round. The visitors center itself is located on Waverly Road, two miles north of Williamstown. The refuge is open to the public for hunting, fishing and wildlife observation.

For information and events throughout the summer, check out their website at fws.gov/refuge/ohioriverislands and their Facebook page, facebook.com/OhioRiverIslandsNWR/ where they post all of their events.

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Ohio River Islands National Wildlife Refuge works to improve butterfly habitat - Parkersburg News