Monarch monitoring campaign marks 10 years with continent-wide call for volunteers.
Canadians are being asked to watch for monarch butterflies and milkweed plants this summer as the International Monarch Monitoring Blitz celebrates its 10th anniversary.
Organized with Espace pour la vie, the community science event will run from July 31 to August 9. Participants can join from cities, suburbs or rural areas and look for monarchs and milkweed during a walk, family outing or regular daily routine, then submit the sightings through the Mission Monarch platform.
More than 9,000 people took part last year, sharing thousands of observations. This year, organizers are aiming even higher with a goal tied to the anniversary, “10 years: 10,000 more participants.”
The collected information helps researchers better understand monarch migration, population patterns and the habitats the butterflies rely on. Over the past decade, observations from tens of thousands of volunteers have also supported decisions about conservation priorities and habitat restoration.
An interactive map is available to help participants choose where to search. It identifies hot spots with frequent monarch and milkweed sightings, mixed spots with varying results, and cold spots where milkweed has been reported but monarch numbers remain low or absent.
Organizers say cold spots are especially valuable because they can reveal gaps in existing data.
The Monarch Blitz brings together conservation organizations from across North America. Its anniversary also coincides with the 10th year of the David Suzuki Foundation’s Butterflyway Project, which supports pollinator protection through planting, education and community science.