Photo taken by Sue A.
at St. Mark's Wildlife Refuge in the Florida Big Bend area during Monarch migration. The Monarchs are enjoying Salt Marsh bushes.
This program was started in 2005 by Chip Taylor of the University of Kansas.
We see the decreasing numbers of Monarch butterflies every year and wonder how they will fare in 20 years, in 50 years and beyond. This program was established to assist the Monarchs with stepping stones for sources of nectar and host plants for their caterpillars along the migration route. We here in Florida are not in that loop, but we do not want our numbers of Monarchs to decrease either, so our club joined in this program with the butterfly garden giving it the name of Lady Lake Butterfly Gardens.
The above link provides information on how to certify your gardens and join the list of schools, nature centers, and individual gardens etc. It provides a link to the Registry of sites and more.
Doing research as of this date, 11-16-2017, we have 791 Waystations in Florida, 3 in The Villages and 2 in Lady Lake. Florida ranks #8 out of 10.
It was decided by our leaders in the club to join this list. We were awarded the 18,488th Waystation. There are Waystations in Hawaii, Australia, India, Peru and Costa Rica among all those in the U.S.
You can apply for your own Waystation. There are costs involved (see website). At the very least you could apply and receive a certificate. There is a separate cost for the sign.
On the left is a snapshot of the Waystations in Florida.
On the right is the Waystations in our area.
On the website you can create these maps and then click on the dots to identify who has ownership of that location.
