AMES, Iowa — The USDA awarded Iowa State University $760,897 to develop and accelerate the adoption of innovative approaches to monarch butterfly conservation, focusing on developing methods the agency referred to as "appropriate for use" in Midwest corn and soybean regions.

"The monarch butterfly population has declined over 80 percent over the past decrease, a concern for environmental conservation," Sue Blodgett, chair of ISU’s Department of Entomology, said. "The USDA, the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG) targets conservation innovation.

"The (three-year) grant our Iowa State team received will examine milkweed and companion plant selection and strategies for incorporating these into existing vegetation or for replacing grass-dominated areas."

The money is part of a $20.5 million CIG program grant awarded to 45 projects that will develop and advance the conservation of natural resources, such as efforts to increase habitat for pollinators like the monarch, develop new ways to attract private investment in natural resource conservation and give agricultural producers greater access to greenhouse gas markets.

"This year’s slate of projects represent the next generation of natural resources conservation, headed by partners who are progressive and forward-thinking in their solutions to natural resource problems," USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack said. "Many of them are also engaging with beginning or underserved farmers and ranchers, and carrying their projects into parts of the country where Conservation Innovation Grants have not been utilized in years past."

The USDA said seven of the grants support conservation technologies and approaches to help beginning, historically underserved or socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers.

Moreover, approximately half of this year’s funding supports environmental markets projects in three categories: water quality trading, greenhouse gas markets and, for the first time, impact investments in working-lands conservation.

In February, ISU launched the Iowa Monarch Conservation Consortium, established by its College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, to take "a farmer-led, science-based approach to enhancing monarch butterfly reproduction and assist community-led implementation efforts."

Its long-term goal is to lead efforts in the recovery of the monarch butterfly without impacting the productivity of Iowa’s cropland, many of which are the sites of what has been one of the nation’s largest monarch butterfly populations.

In an April 15 report, Blodgett; Bob Hartzler, ISU professor of agronomy and an extension weed specialist; Steven Bradbury, ISU professor of environmental toxicology; and Richard Hellmich, research entomologist at the USDA Agricultural Research Service in Ames, stated, "There are many factors contributing to the decline of the monarch population, but one aspect is the large reduction in breeding habitat in Iowa and surrounding states, since monarchs depend on milkweed plants for caterpillar growth and development."

According to the authors, changes in crop management practices and a reduction in Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acres have contributed to the loss of milkweed across much of the monarch breeding range, which Blodgett hopes to change with the USDA grant.

"We have already begun to evaluate nine milkweed species through demonstration plots planted at all 13 of the ISU Research and Demonstration Farms (as well as Reiman Gardens in Ames and Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines)," she explained. "We are evaluating milkweeds for plant growth and development and persistence across the Iowa landscape.

"Additionally, this grant will enable us to evaluate monarch performance and preference. Our results will inform milkweed and companions plant species selection and management practices to support monarch conservation in Iowa."

For a full list of recipients, visit www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/programs/financial/cig