OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) - — You can expect to see more monarch butterflies in our area this weekend as they begin to migrate South, as cooler weather approaches.
The nonprofit Milkweed Matters tells us the monarch butterfly population is rapidly declining.
They say the butterfly's population has dropped by 90 percent over the past 20 years.
Environmentalists say it's in large part due to cities growing, as well as farmers using more herbicides on their crops.
According to the nonprofit, a third of our food requires pollinators, like monarch butterflies.
The nonprofit says they're encouraging people to start throwing milkweed seed balls onto their land, which will help grow the habitat for pollinators.
They say milkweed is the only plant monarchs will lay their eggs on, and the only plant caterpillars will eat.
"In the spring when the conditions are right they'll start head north and they're tattered and tired, and they're looking for milkweed. "Then they'll lay their eggs and the next generation will continue the migration north and then in the fall the migration back down south," Nancy Crews of Milkweed Matters said.
"We don't need to get rid of all the pollinating flowers," Milkweed Matters Nancy Scott said. "We don't need to get rid of those wildflowers (it's not weedy) it's really necessary, and our lives depend upon it because we need the pollinators, we're killing them by our practices."
Milkweed matters is encouraging people to throw milkweed seed balls onto their yard to help restore the habitat for all pollinators.
You learn more about their efforts at, https://milkweedmatters.org/?fbclid=IwAR2nVoCCh_Wcf7tBJxKnjEyzOrlIzmjvMBjjUFUbxPMfz-F9W9IlehO3BhI
