Staff Report
VENICE – The city of Venice was recently named a Monarch City by the national organization Monarch City USA.
That means the city is committed to both preserving the monarch butterfly population, as well as fostering its growth.
Monarch City USA was created in 2015 in Maple Valley, Washington, according to its website.
It is a nonprofit corporation under the Washington State Department of Revenue.
The organization strongly encourages municipalities across the United States to directly help the monarch butterfly population recover through planting milkweed and nectar plants within their boundaries.
Nearly a billion monarch butterflies have vanished since 1990, according to data from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Monarchs are critical to nature because they pollinate plants, helping grow many foods humans and animals rely upon.