Monarchs in the Rough

Audubon International needs Monitors!

Have you noticed butterflies around your local golf course? Since they’re so sensitive to change, plentiful numbers of butterflies indicate a healthy environment. While there are best practices for promoting the conditions butterflies need on your course, information is lacking on their response to these management actions. That’s why we need your help! Monarchs in the Rough Through Audubon International’s Monarchs In The Rough (MITR) conservation initiative, we’re working to establish and promote plantings needed by monarchs and other butterflies. Hundreds of golf courses across North America have already committed over 1,000 acres to these plantings since 2017. Now that we’re three years into the initiative, the time has come to monitor and evaluate the program - which is where you come in! The need for monitoring Audubon International invites you to get involved with this monitoring opportunity, even if your home course is not a MITR member! The data you collect will demonstrate two things; the impact Monarchs In The Rough is having on the ground for butterflies, and will assess wildflower growth and use by monarchs. Through this, we’ll be able to tell if Adult Monarch Butterfly

adequate food for caterpillars and adult butterflies is present in the plots, count how many butterflies are present, and identify whether any adjustments are needed in the seed mixes or management practices. Monitoring golf course pollinator plots is a great way to have a hand in butterfly conservation, even if you’re not affiliated with a golf course. You’ll learn about golf courses in your community or, if you live or work on a course, monitoring will help you connect with your neighbors about your ongoing efforts to save butterflies. How you can help! We’re looking for volunteer citizen scientists to assist in monitoring MITR

golf course butterfly habitat plots, will you help us? The undertaking is the latest collaboration between Audubon International and the Monarch Joint Venture. Please visit the Integrated Monarch Monitoring Protocol webpage (https://monarchjointventure.org/mjvprograms/science/immp) to sign up. While there, you’ll find an overview handout, video tutorial, and a list of golf course contacts. The list highlights the more mature (earlier) plots to see which courses may be found in your area. If there isn’t an MITR plot near you, it’s possible to submit data from other courses as well. Our goal is to have at least 40 new golf properties supplying data to this continent-wide monitoring program this year. With your help, we can make it happen! Click here for more information and

Volunteers monitoring plantings (photo credit: Monarch Joint Venture)

resources on how to monitor https:// monarchjointventure.org/mjvprograms/science/ immp, presented by Monarch Joint Venture. Want to know more? In 2019, a participant survey was sent to a sample of MITR courses involved. From those results, we learned about successes and challenges related to installing native plants and the reports were overwhelmingly positive. Visit https://monarchsintherough.org/monarchs-in-the-roughwebinar/ to watch a webinar presented by the Monarch Joint Venture and the National Conservation Training Center where those findings are summarized. Now, it’s time to add more scientific Monarch butterfly caterpillar

rigor to our understanding of how things look out on the landscape by joining in large-scale population and habitat tracking. If you have questions, contact Marcus Gray, Audubon International’s Director of Conservation Initiatives at marcus@auduboninternational.org or visit https://monarchsintherough.org. Audubon International, an environmentally focused non-profit organization offers members numerous certifications and conservation initiatives to protect the areas where we live, work, and play. Their programs are designed to increase environmental awareness, encourage sustainable environmental efforts, and educate both their members and their communities.