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Ohio Seeks Help to Create Habitats for Monarch Butterflies
By: Associated Press
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COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – A group is looking for help creating new habitats for monarch butterflies to bolster the species’ dwindling population.
The Ohio Department of Transportation’s Ohio Pollinator Habitat Initiative is holding its annual milkweed pod collection campaign that runs for two months starting Thursday.
Seeds will be used to establish new plantings for the butterfly.
The group is asking people to collect milkweed seed pods and drop them off at Soil and Water Conservation District offices located in counties around the state.
Officials say it’s best to pick the pods when they’re dry, gray or brown in color.
Monarch butterflies lay their eggs on milkweed pods. A key reason for the decline in monarch population has been a loss of habitat during the summer breeding season.