Page 4 - Ron Vanderhoff News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Butterfly fans, take a breath. I know it’s officially spring and we’re all pounding on nursery doors, anxious to plant some California native milkweed to help the endangered Western monarch butterfly stay afloat since, yes, milkweed is the only thing its caterpillars will eat and nonnative varieties appear to be hastening its demise. But here’s the thing: native milkweeds are still slowly coming back to life. Native milkweeds — especially narrow-leaf milkweed, the most prominent variety in California — are just now emerging from dormancy, a normal, natural thing that won’t be h...

This is not a drill. California is poised to lose the Western monarch butterfly and its mysterious annual migration from the continent’s Western regions to the coastal areas between Baja and Mendocino. The list for blame is long — habitat destruction, insecticides, herbicides and, yes, good intentions, because if you’ve ever planted a showy orange and red milkweed in Southern California with the goal of helping the monarch, consider yourself part of the problem. So why should we care? First off, caterpillars are a critical food source for most songbirds, which rely heavily on the insec...

Print This is not a drill. California is poised to lose the Western monarch butterfly and its mysterious annual migration from the continent’s Western regions to the coastal areas between Baja and Mendocino. The list for blame is long — habitat destruction, insecticides, herbicides and, yes, good intentions, because if you’ve ever planted a showy orange milkweed in Southern California with the goal of helping the monarch, consider yourself part of the problem. So why should we care? First off, caterpillars are a critical food source for most songbirds, which rely heavily on the insects...