Photos by Laurie Sheppard

The days are getting longer and the first Monarchs will soon arrive in north Texas. When they do, volunteers from Friends of Hagerman NWR will be on hand to collect information such as what the butterflies are feeding on and where there is milkweed to support their larvae. Those butterflies may have traveled many thousands of miles to get to this point and survived many hazards to finally begin the next generation.

Each year, Friends of Hagerman NWR participates in the Integrated Monarch Monitoring Program (IMMP) - a national program that documents milkweed, nectar plant, and monarch use data from various land-use types and regions. Information gathered at National Wildlife Refuges like Hagerman is an important part of the research shaping scientists' understanding of how monarchs interact with their environment and how the population and its habitat changes over time. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently proposed listing Monarch butterflies on the Endangered Species List.

For more information or to find out how you can join the Monarch Monitoring Team,

Please Register Here