This article highlights the U.S. Department of Interior's role in and commitment to pollinator conservation. Without pollinators, humans and ecosystems cannot survive. June 24-30, 2007, has been designated National Pollinator Week by the U.S. Senate (S.Res. 580) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Find out what’s happening during National Pollinator Week in your area or post your event at:  www.pollinator.org. SEE ADDITIONAL ARTICLES AT END OF THIS STORY.

Imagine Monarch butterflies stopping to rest at the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center during their annual migration in the winter and spring. Imagine Trails Center visitors stopping to admire the colorful orange-and-black butterflies resting atop colorful native flowers in a beautifully planned garden.

This is exactly what 40 Oregon Trail Elementary fifth-graders hoped as they planted three monarch butterfly way stations at the Trails Center in Casper, Wyo., on May 24, 2007. And it's what Catherine “Cat” Darst, science coordinator for the National Lands Conservation System in the BLM Washington Office had in mind when she suggested the project. Darst works nationally with the Monarch Habitat task force of the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign, a group that is interested in improving habitat across the country for migrating monarch butterflies.

The Trails Center is one of the first to add butterfly gardens to the resource interpretation tool box.  “This project will make this area really colorful and vibrant,” Trails Center employee Gayle Irwin said. “The children are helping beautify the Trails Center for our visitors along with providing habitat for butterflies, birds and small mammals.”

The U.S Department of Agriculture and U.S. Senate have designated June 24-30, 2007, as National Pollinator Week. The Oregon Trail Elementary School fifth-graders decided to celebrate Pollinator’s week early before school was out for the summer.

They started their day with a fieldtrip to the BLM interpretive site at Bessemer Bend. The students picked up litter and studied plants and trees that had been planted two years ago as part of the Hands On the Land Program with the NHTIC. Bessemer Bend was the last place emigrants on the Oregon Trail could easily cross the North Platter River.

After Bessemer Bend, the fifth-graders headed to the NHTIC where they were ready to start digging in the dirt. The students assisted by their teacher Janet Wragge spent the rest of the afternoon planting butterfly way stations to attract monarch butterflies and other wildlife to the NHTIC.

“We want to get Monarchs to come to our gardens,” Oregon Trail fifth-grader Brandy Harshi said. “The butterflies take pollen from our plants and the pollen gives them energy.”

Students learned before they arrived at the Trails Center that Monarch butterflies are facing population declines as a result of human-induced habitat destruction along its migration pathways. Monarch habitat areas provide migratory butterflies energy to complete their journey south in the fall and north in the spring.

The fifth-graders brought some of their own plants they grew at school using Monarch Way station seed kits The kits include six varieties of milkweeds and six general nectar plants. Milkweed is used by the butterfly larvae, and nectar plants are used by the adults.
Before they started digging, BLM employee Jason Vlcan taught the students the importance of using native plants. "Native species are plants that are adapted to our dry environment," he said, "... that can live in the dry sandy soils here at the Trails Center."

Along with the plants, the fifth-graders brought with them, the Trails Center provided the students with additional native plants including:

• Penstemon
• Asters
• Butterfly Weed
• Purple Coneflow
• Yarrow
• Black-eyed Susan
• Hopflower Oregano
• Little Bluestem
• Indian Ricegrass
• Prairie Wind   Switchgrass
• Orange Carpet Hummingbird

Most of the kids worked with Trails Center employees and volunteers on planting seeds and plants in the three butterfly gardens, while a few helped spread mulch around the plants in all three gardens. The boys in particular enjoyed using the wheelbarrow to carry mulch to the different areas to hold in soil moisture and limit weed establishment.

“It’s just pretty cool to be outside,” said fifth grader Sam Maerz.

The project was a huge success, and the kids were proud of the work they accomplished. They learned about native plants, monarch butterflies, providing shelter for animals, the importance of pollinators. They even discovered a few interesting bugs along the way. Many of the students plan to bring their parents back to see what they had done.

“Anytime you can get kids outside, away from television and video games, it’s exciting,” Oregon Trail teacher Janet Wragge said.

The Oregon Trail Elementary fifth-graders are also BLM’s partner in the Hands on the Land Program, a nationwide environmental education program that pairs federal agencies with schools to get children outside and working on projects. “The teachers at Oregon Trail Elementary really embrace the Hands on the Land Program,” Irwin said. We have many more projects planned together in the future.”

The NHTIC is a public-private partnership between the Bureau of Land Management, the National Historic Trails Center Foundation, and the city of Casper, Wyo. For more information visit the Web site at: www.blm.gov/wy/st/en/NHTIC.html.

http://www.peoplelandandwater.gov/scienceandstewardship/usgs_06-18-07_helping-pollnator-awareness.cfm

http://www.peoplelandandwater.gov/scienceandstewardship/fws_06-20-07_fluttering-to-extinction.cfm

http://www.peoplelandandwater.gov/scienceandstewardship/blm_06-20-07_are-pollinators-important.cfm