A monarch butterfly rests on a milkweed plant. The Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania recently was awarded two National Fish and Wildlife Foundation grants from the Monarch Butterfly and Pollinators Conservation Fund that will help to support habitats used by important pollinators.

Parts of Butler County will become a little more welcoming to monarch butterflies and bumblebees in the near future.

The Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania recently was awarded two National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) grants from the Monarch Butterfly and Pollinators Conservation Fund that will help to support habitats used by important pollinators, including Monarch butterflies.

Sarah Koenig, the society's conservation director, said the grants total $190,983. With aid in kind from society partners such as Chatham University and Penn State Extension-Butler County, the total investment in the two projects exceeds $400,000.

In addition to monarch butterflies, the grants will support rusty-patched bumblebees, yellow banded bumblebees and other imperiled bumblebees and pollinators.

“They are imperiled due to habitat loss, the use of herbicides in agriculture,” Koenig said. “Climate change is very challenging to them also.”

She said warmer springs are causing flowers to bloom earlier, causing a “disconnect” between the flowers and the pollinating bumblebees.“They co-evolved over thousands of years, (but) a perfect timing that has happened over thousands of years is beginning to be disconnected,” she said.Land management also plays a part because bumblebees are ground nesters that need undisturbed areas to reproduce.“Monarch butterflies and pollinators make essential contributions to natural ecosystems, agriculture and the economy,” said Jeff Trandahl, executive director and CEO of NFWF.He said the grants “will advance collaborations with public and private land managers to restore and improve habitat for pollinators and other wildlife.”The Restoring and Improving Rights of Way for Pollinators grant for $99,280 will improve more than 150 acres of rights of way in Pennsylvania to provide habitat for monarchs and pollinators through the planting of native species and monitoring bumblebees.The project will restore 95 acres, improve 56 acres and propagate 4,400 milkweed seedlings.“We are working with PennDOT to identify 50 acres of rights of way,” Koenig said. “We have brought in new partners, such as utilities.”Sites are being considered in Butler, Allegheny and some surrounding counties.Once rights of way are selected, the society and its volunteers will plant milkweed and 20 species native nectar plants and clump-forming grasses for nesting.Rights of way can be along roads, trails and power lines.

The Habitat Restoration and Enhancement for Pollinators grant totals $91,703 and will provide for acquisition and planting of flowering trees and shrubs, milkweed cultivation, invasive species control and monitoring of bumblebees.The project will restore 145 acres, improve 130 acres, propagate 6,800 milkweed seedlings and reach 1,000 people on private agricultural lands and nature reserves.“We are working with agricultural landowners at two farms, Rose Lane Farm in Chicora and Snyder Farm in Slippery Rock,” Koenig said.The landowners agree to plant a special butterfly/bumblebee plant mix on edge-of-the-field areas and along farm roadways. The society will cover half of the cost of special bumblebee mix.Restoring habitat is important, Koenig said.“Pollinators are a keystone species,” she said “Four out of every five bites of food we take are because of pollinators.”She said butterflies and bumblebees also are indicator species: Their health reflects the health of the larger ecosystem.Koenig said people can do the same thing in their backyards, planting milkweed and other pollinator- favorite plants. There are a variety of resources on the Audubon Society website to help them.Significant volunteer hours will be committed to the grant projects. The Audubon Society intends to post volunteer opportunities on its website by fall. Those wanting to volunteer can call Koenig at 412-963-6100.Project partners include Chatham University, Penn State Extension-Butler County, Pennsylvania Women's Agricultural Network, Columbia Gas, FirstEnergy, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, United States Army Corps of Engineers-Pittsburgh District, Allegheny County, Friends of the Riverfront, Rachel Carson Trail Conservancy, Keystone 10 Million Trees Partnership and agricultural landowners.

Audubon Volunteer Society naturalists work in the woods.The Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania was recently awarded two National Fish and Wildlife Foundation grants from the Monarch Butterfly and Pollinators Conservation Fund that will help to support habitats used by important pollinators