Monarch butterflies are nearly synonymous with fall in Cape May County. The colorful insects flock to the shore every autumn as they make the perilous journey to warmer climates. The Monarch Festival at the Nature Center of Cape May, now in its 6th year, celebrates these beloved creatures. But behind the festivities looms an unfortunate truth: monarch butterflies are not doing well in America.
Indeed, the monarch butterfly population in America’s eastern half has declined 84% since 1996. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (ICUN), as well as the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, both report that America’s great monarch migration is on the verge of collapse due to a variety of environmental changes.
Just this year, the monarch butterfly was declared endangered by the IUCN.
Chief among threats to the monarch is the prolific use of pesticides, many of which kill the butterfly’s favorite breeding spot: the milkweed plant. Emily Wilmoth, who is chiefly responsible for putting together this year’s Monarch Festival, said that a healthy milkweed population is necessary because “it’s the only plant that the monarch caterpillar will eat.” As the milkweed population dwindles across the country, so does the monarch population.
Emily, who also serves as a nature educator and the Program Director for the Nature Center of Cape May, hopes that visitors will come to this year’s festival to learn more about these butterflies and local efforts to help them.
Locals can make a big difference for the orange-winged insect through small changes, Emily said. She urges locals to plant Milkweed in their backyards and gardens. Milkweed comes in many enchanting colors; it can help beautify a garden and provide a vital breeding spot for one of Cape May’s most colorful visitors.
Poke milkweed, which grows a fragrant white flower, and the bright orange butterfly milkweed are both good options that grow in hardiness zone 7b, which includes Cape May County.
Emily said that she has “seen a lot of people jump into action” in the area to help by planting milkweed and nectar plants for monarchs.
In addition, a lot is being done to help the monarch butterfly’s struggling population. The Cape May Monarch Monitoring Project of Cape May conducts annual population studies that contribute to research on migrating monarch populations. Their annual monarch “census” each year and are among many groups that have recorded a sharp decline in migratory numbers.
Lillian Armstrong with the New Jersey Audubon’s Cape May Bird Observatory says that the Monarch Monitoring Project is the “oldest data-gathering effort in the US.” She stressed that “this kind of research is vital to measuring the health of the remaining monarch population.”
The monitoring group will be present at this year’s Monarch Festival to show visitors how monarch tagging is done. Emily said that members of the tagging project affix tiny pieces of paper to a monarch’s wing. Each tag has a unique code that identifies where it was tagged and is designed to remain on the butterfly’s wing until the end of its life cycle. Tags that are sighted or found later can be reported to a central database, which tracks the species’ movements.
This year’s festival takes place on September 25 at the Nature Center of Cape May, which is located on 1600 Delaware Ave. Fun fact: the monarch is poisonous to most predators, so the bright colors that make it so alluring to humans also serve as a warning to the butterfly’s adversaries.
The festival will begin at 10 a.m. with a butterfly-themed yoga session. “Mac’s Café” food truck will serve both breakfast and lunch. Visitors can enjoy a bake sale and can peruse local monarch-themed artwork. Kids, and kids at heart, can have their faces painted with patterns based on the monarch butterfly. Live music will be played by “Kearns and Donahue” from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. A festival highlight is the “monarch parade,” where guests dress up in monarch wings and other fun costumes.
Emily urges the public to come out to the festival, and to pay attention to the health of the monarch population at large. She warns that the struggling monarchs are just the “canary in the coal mine.” She said that “We know a lot about monarchs because people love them, but they are also indicators that other pollinators and insects are struggling as well.”
The Monarch Festival is a great way to celebrate and learn about one of Cape May County’s prettiest visitors.
The Monarch Festival will take place on September 25th from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 1600 Delaware Ave. The Nature Center is also leading a trip to a mountain range in Mexico where the butterflies ultimately spend the winter. For more information about the trip and the festival, give the Nature Center of Cape May a call at 609-427-3045.
This article was paid for in part by a grant from the New Jersey Division of Travel and Tourism.
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