Health & Fitness
A Transforming Trail
What is the Monarch Trail all about? Find out over the next few months as we take you though the season and through the dramatic changes that will occur as the area is developed.
The Monarch Trail – have you been there yet?
On this day, May 4, in 2007, I found the earliest monarch butterfly eggs ever. We are anxiously awaiting their official arrival for 2011. Somehow they know when the first milkweed comes up – and it's just coming up now.
For those not in the know, milkweeds are the only plants monarchs will lay eggs on, and the only food their caterpillars can eat.
Find out what's happening in Wauwatosawith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Normally, the first monarchs arrive in the second or third week of May; so stay tuned, and let me know if you find the first ones in your yard.
The Monarch Trail was created along the western edge of the Milwaukee County Grounds to guide the public to the roosting sites in fall, where I have watched them gather on their migration to Mexico for 14 years. The migration of many birds, as well as the monarchs' journey through this corridor, is a much, much older path.
Find out what's happening in Wauwatosawith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The Trail is on the County Grounds in Wauwatosa within a parcel that is now owned by the UWM Real Estate Foundation, and it will likely change dramatically in the next year. Critical roost sites and a small amount of surrounding wildflower nectaring sites will remain intact.
I believe the new landowners will be careful, but we really don't know how much development will fit here without undoing this fantastic phenomenon each fall.
Monarch butterflies are one of the strongest, most resilient and adaptable butterflies known, yet their declining numbers are telling us something is very, very wrong.
Is there an answer to this? Lets find out... on the Monarch Trail this year!
– Barb Agnew, founder of The Monarch Trail
