Aug

Protecting California’s Monarch Butterflies in Yolo County with Xerces Society Habitat Kits

At the Yolo RCD, we pride ourselves on doing work that matters, something that we would not achieve without our wonderful partner organizations. Today, we’d like to highlight the Xerces Society and their Pollinator Habitat Kit program, through which the RCD has had the opportunity to help support native pollinators around the county.

The Xerces Society is an international nonprofit organization aimed at protecting invertebrates and their habitats. Due to the rapidly declining Western Monarch butterfly population, the Xerces society created a program in California to disperse pollinator habitat kits full of native flowering plants. These plants provide important food and habitat for native pollinators like the Monarchs. In the last two years, the Xerces Society has distributed thousands of pollinator plants to project partners like us to be planted and managed around the state, ensuring these important insects have the habitat they need to survive.

Here in Yolo County the RCD has – along with support from our other local partners like the City of Davis Open Space Program, the Center for Land-Based Learning, Putah Creek Council, Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, and local landowners – taken part in planning for, installing, and helping to maintain these habitat kits around the county. We love getting to see the plants mature and see the impact they are already having on the pollinator community.