Monarch Butterfly habitats going up at rest stop, commuter lots
Monarch butterflies migrating to warmer climates and those staying around here will soon be able to take comfort at a highway.
The Virginia Department of Transportation and Dominion Power will team up and will place 1,376 pollinator-friendly plants at four stops in Northern Virginia, including a car rest area on Interstate 95 in Dale City. The plants will provide nectar and shelter for the butterflies that, this time of year, are making their way to warmer regions of California and Mexico.
Here’s more in a VDOT press release:
At each of the four locations, volunteers will dig 900 square-foot beds and plant about 350 plants. Dominion is providing the funding and a cadre of volunteers; Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy is providing the technical expertise, and VDOT is providing the land along with volunteers to plant the way stations.
These butterfly refuge plant beds built by the volunteers will be called “way stations.” Volunteers will dig 900 square-foot flower beds and place 350 plants at each of the four locations. Other locations where butterfly refuges will be placed include a commuter lot near Dulles Airport and a lot off Dulles Greenway in Loudoun County, and at a commuter lot off Stringfellow Road in Fairfax County.
Only Monarch butterflies born in the late summer are prone to migration. The insects are born to fly.
Dominion Power said the Monarch Butterfly population in our area has reached its lowest point in 20 years.
