10-state NRCS project will improve monarch habitats

USDA on Thursday announced a new conservation effort to help ag producers provide food and habitat for monarch butterflies in a 10-state area including the Midwest and southern Great Plains. USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service will lead the effort, investing $4 million in 2016 to help combat the iconic species' decline. NRCS will provide technical and financial assistance to help producers and conservation partners plant milkweed and nectar-rich plants along field borders, in buffers along waterways or around wetlands, in pastures and other suitable locations. NRCS also help producers manage their pastures in ways that increase critical populations of milkweed and nectar plants while also improving the health of their rangelands. Environmental Quality Incentives Program and remaining funds from the former Wetlands Reserve Program provide funding for the project...more