Editor’s note: Evie Kinkead is a junior at Aptos High School.
For years, monarch butterflies in California have been endangered.
This is influenced by harmful pesticides infiltrating milkweed, a critical plant in the butterfly’s life cycle. This, in concert with rapid urbanization, has led to the population decreasing at a rate of over 80% since the 1990s.
Monarchs are pollinators, helping plants, fruits, and flowers reproduce. The loss of California’s monarch butterflies threatens the delicate balance of our local ecosystems. As apex pollinators, their decline can have cascading effects on the biodiversity of the region.
In the 2024-25 school year, I started a mission to repopulate the diminishing species. Last summer, I worked with Aptos High School staff and students to repurpose an overgrown area on campus into a monarch garden. The garden consists of 100% California native plants graciously donated by Soquel Nurseries, to help rehabilitate monarchs. For about 2-3 weeks, our team worked 5-hour days to clear out the dense foliage and make room for a variety of plants, including milkweed, verbena and many more. These plants are a great place for monarchs to feed and nest, which has been observed increasingly as the plants continue to grow.
An important part of executing this project is community involvement. Not only has the garden proven to assist the repopulation of monarchs, but it has brought together about 20 individuals who care about the issue. As the founder of the Monarch Conservation Club at Aptos High, I am extremely impressed with how motivated the students are to help this garden thrive. Members of the club have taken time out of their busy schedules to water, observe, and maintain the garden. In doing so, they have gained collaboration skills and newfound responsibility. Many students also express a deep sense of accomplishment in contributing to environmental conservation, strengthening their connection with nature.
Now, it’s your turn. To maximize our results, we want to get the rest of the community involved. If even a small portion of community members are willing to plant milkweed in their gardens at home, the butterflies will have a much higher chance of survival and a smoother migration. Common milkweed can be purchased from DIG Gardens in Aptos, or Home Depot in their season—late spring to late summer. It is ideal to plant them in this time period, as they will have the most time to grow strong before the winter. They are perennials, which means they will grow every year in season, even though they temporarily die in the winter.
Together, we can create a vibrant and sustainable environment for monarchs to thrive in. I hope you choose to join the Monarch Conservation Club in our effort to help repopulate monarch butterflies!
