Saving Monarchs

Over the years I have done so many stories on colony collapse disorder and the disappearance of bees. It continues at an alarming rate which could be disastrous on a worldwide basis. Sarah Kincaid is an entomologist with the Oregon Department of Agriculture who says farmers can take strong steps to help preserve the bee populations: “A lot of these farms have already started putting in pollinator habitat through hedgerows. They’ve started changing some of their management practices, being more concerned about only spraying at night when bees aren’t on the flower, not spraying during bloom– some basic practices like that.”  

But bees aren’t the only pollinators. Assistance Available for Idaho Producers to Aid Declining Monarch Butterfly. Idaho agricultural producers can voluntarily help the monarch butterfly on their farms and ranches through a variety of conservation practices offered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). This assistance comes at a critical time as recent reports show the western population of the monarch butterfly is at an all-time low.

The USDA’s NRCS will help producers cover part of the costs for adopting specific conservation practices.