The installation of Monarch butterfly habitat at Eagle Mountain City Hall is now underway.
“We are looking for areas in and around the city where we have grass that doesn’t offer much then green grass, we are going to replace our thirsty Kentucky blue grass with small a variety of native wildflowers where we can cut our water consumption in half and provide habitat for pollinators,” says Todd Black, wildlife biologist with Eagle Mountain City.
The City actively supports landscape and wildlife conservation efforts throughout the community and has previously hosted volunteer events to facilitate Monarch habitats and vegetation in the community.
Turf landscaping is now being replaced with native wildlife flowers many of which were collected from seeds right here in the valley and will perform well in Eagle Mountain’s high desert terrain. Plant selection includes several native flowers including milkweed, salad burnet, penstemons and others.
Black is starting the initiative not only to continue wildlife outreach and education in the community, but to showcase the City’s commitment to water conservation.
“It’s going to be something different for sure, … but we’ll see what they look like mid-to-late June.” says Black.
The idea for the project followed regular discussions at the City’s Wildlife and Nature Education (WANE) meetings where the mayor was in attendance and expressed interest in doing something like this.
Eagle Mountain City is also teaming up with programs like Monarch City USA and the Mayors’ Monarch Pledge to do even more for butterfly conservation.
Planting native vegetation at City Hall is intended to help facilitate the reduction of water, implement conservation practices for the monarch butterfly in Eagle Mountain and find an alternative to grass turf in the key selected areas.
Black hopes these sites add beauty and variety to the city as well as different wildlife habitats.
