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Elysian Park welcomes its first monarch butterfly habitat with over 200 milkweed plants
A volunteer plants a milkweed plant at Elysian Park.
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Courtesy Project Monarch L.A.
)
Dozens of volunteers spent Sunday creating Elysian Park’s first monarch butterfly habitat, planting some 200 milkweed plants.
Western monarch populations in California have been dwindling for decades in part because there are fewer milkweed plants. And monarchs will only lay their eggs on milkweed, since that’s what their caterpillars like to eat.
Laura Velkei, founder of Project Monarch L.A., said volunteers planted the habitat in the Victory Memorial Grove area of Elysian Park in order to support the black and orange butterflies.
“The more people that are putting their hands in the ground ... getting a crush on a caterpillar or a butterfly, all those things connect us more deeply to nature than any other conversation could possibly do,” Velkei said. “How do you not love a monarch butterfly? They’re just amazing."
Volunteers gather for a group photo at Elysian Park in Los Angeles.
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Courtesy Project Monarch L.A.
)
The planting event was co-organized by Friends of Elysian Park, which has worked for the past few years to beautify this portion of the park, planting oak trees, agaves and more.
“We’ve really kind of brought it back to a beautiful natural state, and I think the community ends up taking better care of it because of that,” Sakae Koyama, co-president of Friends of Elysian Park, told LAist.
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Philip Murphy, co-president of Friends of Elysian Park, said he tried to propagate dozens of milkweed plants for the park a couple years back but they didn’t take. So he was happy to work with Velkei and Project Monarch L.A. to try again.
The monarch habitat even got its own art installation in the form of local artist Katrina Alexy’s orange totems. They’re meant to draw attention to the need for more milkweed in our region.
If you’d like to sign up for future Project Monarch L.A. volunteer events, head over to their website. You can also visit Santa Monica Mountains Fund for tips on how to grow milkweed at home.
And the California Department of Fish and Wildlife has some pointers on how you can help support monarchs.
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