Monarch Waystation Coming to LMIS
They are beautiful. They are world-class travelers. And they are vanishing. But through a special
project at Little Miami Intermediate School (LMIS), monarch butterflies are getting a helping hand.
LMIS sixth grade teacher Stephanie Baldwin recently won a $500 grant from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to construct a monarch butterfly way station on the grounds of the school.
According to the Cincinnati Nature Center, monarch butterfly populations have decreased 90% over the past two decades, mostly due to loss of habitat. Monarchs travel each spring from their overwintering sites in Mexico to their summer habitats in the United States and Canada. Along the way, they lay their eggs on milkweed, as it is the only food monarch butterfly caterpillars can eat.
As areas have become more developed, milkweed has disappeared from the landscape, and in turn, so have monarchs.
