April 2016 - Parks & Recreation - 59

The Kansas City, Missouri, Department of Parks and Recreation is partnering on a monarch demonstration
garden at Loose Park in Kansas City,
according to Director Mark McHenry.
This project is funded in part by a monarch conservation grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.
The garden will be the site of educational programs and will be maintained
and monitored by volunteers from a local garden club. The volunteers will report results to monarch monitoring organizations and the Field Museum in
Chicago as part of the EPIC program
(Ecological Places in Cities).
How to Help Save the Monarch
What you can do to help save the
monarch is simple: Create habitat
and educate the public. Taylor says,
" Parks can create habitat for monarchs and other pollinators. We have
lost tens of millions of acres of habitat. Parks can play a big role in restoring that habitat. " He continues, " The
second, and possibly more important
role that parks can play, is to educate
the public. The conclusions of two
presidential working groups and a
host of conservation organizations is
that if we are to save the monarch, it
will take an all-hands-on-deck effort.
We need parks. " Taylor says we must
come to grips with the fact that we
continue to lose a million acres of
monarch habitat per year. " We won't
save the monarch unless we make it
national priority, " he says.
So, here are four simple things you
and your agency can do to help save
the monarch:
Restore monarch habitat by planting milkweed in parks and on other public lands. It is not too late to
request free milkweed plants from
Monarch Watch for larger plantings
in landscape restoration projects
more than 2 acres in size, as well as
smaller flats. Visit www.monarch

watch.org and click " Free Milkweeds
for Restoration, " and remember to
check " NRPA member. "
Educate the public in whatever
ways you can of the need to become
engaged in monarch conservation -
exhibits, signs, festivals, programs, citizen science projects, etc.
Encourage your mayor to take the
Mayors for Monarchs Pledge. Visit
www.nwf.org/How-to-Help/Garden-for-Wildlife/Community-Habitats/Mayors-Monarch-Pledge.aspx
to learn more.

Join NRPA's Parks for Monarchs campaign (www.nrpa.org/
parks4monarchs) and tell us what
you are doing. We want to hear
about how you are meeting challenges, developing new partnerships, and achieving success, and
we want to share your inspirational
achievements.
Richard J. Dolesh is NRPA's Vice President of
Conservation and Parks (rdolesh@nrpa.org).

Trojan Park Stormwater
Management Areas Provide
Habitat for Monarchs
Trojan Park, a new neighborhood park in Wellston, Missouri, along the Great
Rivers Greenway (GRG) in St. Louis County, is NRPA's 2016 Parks Build Community project. An integral part of the park's design is the installation of four
bio-retention areas that will capture and hold stormwater on the site during rainstorms. What is innovative about the installation of these required best-management
practices for stormwater (BMPs) is that all four will be planted as pollinator gardens
and butterfly conservation areas. One of the gardens will be specifically planted as a
monarch butterfly waystation.
Trojan Park is a compact neighborhood park designed by Forum Studio in conjunction with GRG staff and located right on the St. Vincent Greenway. Michael Sorth,
director of conservation and community for GRG, said the decision to include pollinator gardens as part of the stormwater mitigation requirements is " a trend that we
are seeing across the St. Louis region. " He continued, " Park agencies are starting to
see a different way to develop more sustainable landscapes. "
Angie Weber, GRG's conservation program manager, says, " Bio-retention areas like
these are ideal for increasing wildlife habitat. The right plants will produce the right
habitat. " She says that often park agencies or landscape design firms will choose
showy or exotic plants that provide color and appeal, but don't contribute to producing quality wildlife habitat.
" Because of the great concern for pollinators, a conversation we are having across
the St. Louis region, we chose to plant pollinator-friendly plants, " Weber says. " We
believe that all landscaping should contribute to the goal of creating productive
landscapes with good ecological function. "
When Trojan Park's pollinator and monarch gardens are planted, the partnership that
is managing the park - The City of Wellston, St. Louis County Parks and Recreation and
GRG - will invite the support of local volunteers including Master Gardeners, the St.
Louis Audubon Society and homeowners and residents of Wellston to maintain them.
As Weber says, " People who are uninitiated in saving the monarchs and other pollinators
learn what it's about and then become excited to help provide stewardship. "
- Richard J. Dolesh, NRPA's Vice President of Conservation and Parks

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April 2016 - Parks & Recreation

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