“The Kansas Grazing Lands Coalition will work with private landowners and managers to develop conservation plans to benefit monarch butterflies on grazing lands. The project will result in 12,000 acres [4,850 hectares] of improved or created habitat for the monarch butterfly by restoring and enhancing native mixed grass and tallgrass ecosystem functions, improved rangeland health on private working lands through invasive species control, proper grazing management, prescribed fire, native grassland and forb planting, and other beneficial rangeland management practices” (Edelen 2015).

The restoration work occurs in the Red Hills and Flint Hills. Kansas Grazing Lands Coalition project leads met with ranchers in early 2016 to educate them about monarch habitat restoration goals across grazing lands in Kansas (Booker 2015). One of the major goals of the program is to revitalize this grassland habitat without any additional cost to private landowners (Eckels 2015). Coupled with changes in management of grazing lands, the Kansas Grazing Lands Coalition plans to purge the Red and Flint hills of invasive species in an effort to restore habitat for monarchs.

• Booker, A. 2015. Kansas Grazing Lands Coalition Plans to Restore 12,000 Acres of Monarch Butterfly Habitat. The Hutchinson News. hutchnews.com/news/local_state_news/kansas-grazing-lands-coalition-plans-to-restore-acres-of-monarch/article_0cb6f781-db81-53c2-ae89-18c2676d0de0.html.
• Eckels, C. 2015. Coalition Launches Campaign to Restore Monarch Habitats Across KS Grazing Lands. 89.1 Wichita Public Radio. http://kmuw.org/post/coalition-launches-campaign-restore-monarch-habitats-across-ks-grazing-lands.
• Edelen, T. 2015. 2015 Monarch Butterfly Conservation Fund Grant Slate. Grazing Lands as Monarch Habitat, 3. www.nfwf.org/monarch/Documents/monarchgrants15-0925.pdf.

Keywords: private lands