Point Pelee National Park is located in the Municipality of Leamington in extreme southwestern Ontario, Canada.  Both the Municipality and the park are an important annual stopover point for migrating monarchs.  Beginning in 2015, the Town of Leamington partnered with Point Pelee National Park to install monarch habitat in 18 plant beds, along 2 km of a popular existing trail.  Officially named “The Leamington Monarch Trail,” it is a milkweed and nectar habitat installation which includes new trilingual interpretive signage (English, French and Spanish) to communicate the importance of monarch habitat to the conservation of the species.  Over 250 volunteers of all ages have helped to plant the native gardens over the past 3 years, and just three months after the first milkweed plugs were planted, monarch caterpillars were spotted munching on their new food source beside the trail!

• Tammy Dobbie. 2016. Parks Canada. Personal communication.

Keywords: milkweed, parks