Texas Monarch Flyway Strategy Program
THE TEXAS MONARCH FLYWAY STRATEGY (Texas MFS) is a statewide effort facilitated by Houston Wilderness to restore, increase and enhance Monarch habitat throughout Texas - a critical link in the Monarch butterfly's journey along the Central Flyway from Canada to Mexico and back every year. The Texas MFS also serves to protect habitat for other pollinators that are crucial to local ecosystems and agriculture.
The Texas MFS is the only collaborative statewide plan in Texas continually creating/enhancing Monarch habitat throughout the state. Since 2016, HW and its many collaborative partners have received NFWF Monarch Butterfly Conservation Fund grants, among other funding, with HW facilitating the implementation of pollinator habitats on over 600 acres.
Current Texas MFS acreage for creation of additional Monarch pollinator habitats through 2022 = 635.69 acres
Engaging Texas MFS partners in 1) expanding native milkweed and pollinator plants,
2) prepping sites for large-scale prairie restoration,
3) providing Monarch and pollinator research and education through the TxMFS Pollinator Step-by-Step Guide, and
4) creating jobs in pollinator habitat restoration and enhancement.
Pollinator Habitats
TxMFS funds provide Pollilnator Forbs & Native Milkweed to landowners around the State of Texas - join the Monarch effort by emailing Karla@houstonwilderness.org and sign up to create a Monarch pollinator area!
MIGRATION:
The annual migration of Monarch Butterflies is one of the most impressive phenomena in the natural world. Every spring, vast numbers of monarch butterflies undertake a multi-generational journey from their wintering grounds in the mountains of Mexico to temperate areas of the United States thousands of miles to the north where they will summer, and then return back to Mexico in the fall. This incredible yearly pilgrimage is under threat from habitat destruction, which has drastically reduced the population of migrants in recent decades. The state of Texas is a crucial link between the Monarch's wintering grounds in Mexico and their summer habitat further North. See the migration on real time maps on Journey North