A leading international conservation group has designated the monarch butterfly as endangered, put it is still not legally protected.

The Tulsa World has a story on how the Oklahoma Department of Transportation has been trying out different roadside mowing schedules to find out which work best to keep milkweed plants available for monarch butterflies at the right times of the year. Read the story.

Use this guide to help you plan your milkweed garden – picking native milkweeds that match your location and soil.

Oklahoma is an important way station on both the spring and fall migrations of the Eastern Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus). Monarchs leave their winter home in Mexico in February and March and head north. Their first stop is in Texas. They look for milkweed. The adult butterfly lays her eggs on the plant and the caterpillars that…

When it comes to monarch butterflies, there’s good news and bad news. Let’s go with the bad news first. The rivers of monarch butterflies that once flowed over Oklahoma’s towns, fields and pastures each September have dwindled to a trickle. Where once monarchs covered thistles and goldenrod on our farm, and endless clouds blew across…