Migrating Monarch Conservation Gardening by Brionna McCumber This past winter, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed a rule to list monarch butterflies as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The iconic migration along the east side of the Rocky Mountains sees monarchs flying from as far north as Canada down to the Oyamel forests in Mexico. Most of these butterflies travel through the Great Plains region of the United States, with the Front Range serving as the western boundary of their migratory pathway. Starting in March, monarchs begin their journey north again, reproducing and laying eggs along the way. Their northward migration continues over multiple generations, limited by the availability of milkweed host plants and nectar sources for adult butterflies. This cycle persists throughout the summer until late August, when the migration south begins once more. In December 2024, the overwintering populations occupied 4.42 acres of forest in Mexico—nearly d...
The Gardens on Spring Creek is honored to have been awarded funding from the U.S. Botanic Garden / American Public Gardens Association Urban Agriculture Resilience Program to partner with the local Indigenous Community to learn, plan, plant, grow, and harvest vegetables, herbs, ceremonial and medicinal plants for the Native populations’ use. This garden marks the beginning of a committed relationship between The Gardens on Spring Creek and the Native community that will continue to grow and evolve into the future. To learn more about this incredible project, please read this blog post from our Summer 2024 Indigenous Garden intern, Atom J. Valdez of the Navajo Nation. The Indigenous Garden by Atom J. Valdez, Navajo Nation The Indigenous Garden at The Gardens on Spring Creek was born out of an expressed need by the local Indigenous community for access to space to grow spiritual, medicinal, and food plants for the community. Assimilation into Western societ...