MONDAY, MARCH 7, 2022. BY XERCES SOCIETY.
Many insect pollinators are declining in California, including bees and butterflies. The Western monarch population has declined 95% since the 1980s, likely due to multiple factors including habitat loss and degradation, pesticides, and climate change. One important step we can take to protect these important animals is to increase the amount of habitat available to these species. To this end, The Xerces Society is offering habitat kits that contain climate-smart native plants to project partners who are willing to provide the time, labor, and land to develop habitats that support monarchs and other pollinators in California.
We are excited to inform you that our 2022 Habitat Kit season has launched! As you probably know, one of the most important steps we can take to protect monarchs and other pollinators is to increase the amount of habitat available to these species. To help facilitate this process, Xerces launched our Habitat Kit program in California in 2019, offering habitat kits that contain climate-smart native plants to project partners who are willing to provide the time, labor, and land.
Between 2019 and 2021, Xerces’ California Habitat Kits provided over 100,000 plants to 144 partners in California, resulting in acres of new, high quality habitat for monarch butterflies and pollinators.
Who Can Apply?
Kits are intended to be used to create or enhance monarch and pollinator habitat on working lands or public lands, with landowner or land manager collaboration. This includes farms, ranches, tribal land, urban farms or gardens, city parks, school gardens or other public areas. The kits are not intended to be used in home gardens. We have kits available for the Central Valley, Sierra Nevada Foothills, Central Coast and Coastal Foothills, or Southern California (see map at bottom of post).
We encourage private landowners of working lands to partner with their local Resource Conservation District (RCD) or other technical liaison on their projects.
Past applicants or recipients of this program are welcome to re-apply.
Please note that you are responsible for picking up your kit(s) when ready in October/November 2022. Kit pick up locations are as follows:
● Central Valley / Sierra Foothills: USDA NRCS Lockeford Plant Materials Center, Lockeford CA
● Central Coast: TBD (likely Monterey county or adjacent county)
● Southern California: Moosa Creek Nursery in Valley Center, CA.
How to Fill Out the Notice of Interest Form
Monarch butterfly larvae. Photo: Charlie Starr IV.
Completing the Interest Form does not guarantee that your project will be selected. The form is your opportunity to demonstrate that your project is well designed and carefully thought out. Land managers can apply directly, or RCDs or other technical liaisons can apply on behalf of land managers. Please note that the name and email that you enter when you fill out the form is the default main point of contact for this project. You are responsible for notifying us if the project plans or point of contact change at any time.
Single kits are not designed to be divided into multiple projects, and we are not able to provide partial kits or to customize kits for specific projects. Participants must be able to use the entire kit/minimum order in one project but it can be divided up within the area. For example, several plantings within one county park, or several areas on a farm or ranch. If applying for kits for multiple projects, please fill out a separate application for each project.
If you are interested in receiving a kit(s), please complete the Interest Form by end-of-day April 15, 2022. Partners will be notified by the end of May, 2022 if they will be receiving a kit. Kits will be available for pick-up in late October/early November of 2022. If you have questions, please email us at: centralvalleypollinators@xerces.org. Click HERE to watch an informative webinar for more information.
This year, we are offering several different kit types and sizes. Please take a minute to look through the different kit descriptions as well as the associated geographic regions, so you can determine which kit would be most appropriate for your project. All kits are comprised of native plants that have been identified as having high value to monarchs and other pollinators and are grown without the use of systemic pesticides that may be harmful to pollinators. Please note that kits are not certified organic.
Kits available for the Sacramento Valley, the San Joaquin Valley, the Central Coast and Coastal Foothills, and the Sierra Nevada Foothills include (pick-up in locations in Lockeford, CA and the Central Coast TBD):
Wildflower Grassland Kit. This kit contains 480 small herbaceous transplants (‘plugs’), including milkweed, as well as some native grass seed. Each kit will cover approximately 4,320 square feet if planted on 3 ft spacing. Minimum order of 1 kit/project. Additional kits can be requested for larger projects.
Riparian Wildflower Kit. This kit contains 480 small transplants (‘plugs’), including milkweed and other plants used by monarchs and pollinators, and native grass seed. This kit contains plants that do well in riparian areas and can tolerate some seasonal flooding. Each kit will cover 4,320 square feet if planted on 3 ft spacing. Minimum order of 1 kit/project. Additional kits can be requested for larger projects.
Hedgerow Kit. This kit contains 85 woody and herbaceous transplants (including milkweed) and native bunch grasses, which will provide 500 ft of linear hedgerow or 3,060 square feet when planted on 6 ft spacing. Container sizes range from tree band to 1 gal. Minimum order of 1 kit/project. Additional kits can be requested for larger projects.
Riparian Hedgerow Kit. This kit contains 85 woody and herbaceous transplants (including milkweed) and native bunch grasses, which will provide 500 ft of linear habitat or 3,060 square feet when planted on 6 ft spacing. This kit contains plants that do well in riparian areas and can tolerate some seasonal flooding. Container sizes range from tree band to 1 gal. Minimum order of 1 kit/project. Additional kits can be requested for larger projects.
Garden Kit. This kit contains 32 herbaceous transplants (including milkweed) and native bunch grasses, which will cover approximately 512 square feet when planted on 4 ft spacing. Container sizes range from tree band to 1 gal. Minimum order of 1 kit/project. Additional kits can be requested for larger projects.
Kits available for Southern California (pick-up in Valley Center, CA):
Southern California Garden Kit. This kit contains 32 plants, including 4 shrubs, 8 milkweed plants, and a mix of native grasses and forbs. Each kit will cover approximately 512 square feet. Minimum order of 1 kit/project. Additional kits can be requested for larger projects.
If you need assistance filling out the application form, have questions about your project’s suitability or for requests for technical guidance on your project, please email us at: centralvalleypollinators@xerces.org.
What’s in the Kits?
Below are the species lists, region information and additional technical information for each kit. Exact species and numbers are dependent on nursery availability and may change.
Kits that are within 5 miles of the coast will not include milkweed, but will have the same total number of plants. For more information on why planting milkweed near the coast is not recommended, please see monarchjointventure.org/resources/faq/i-live-near-the-california-overwintering-grounds.-should-i-be-planting-milk.
Table 1 (below). Tentative plant list for Hedgerow, Riparian Hedgerow, and Garden Kits. Kits within 5 miles of the coast will not contain milkweed. Exact species composition dependent on nursery availability. Most species will be included as tree-band to 1 gal sized transplants.
Table 2 (below). Tentative plant list for the Wildflower Grassland and Riparian Wildflower Kits (pick-up in locations in Lockeford, CA and the Central Coast TBD). Kits within 5 miles of the coast will not contain milkweed. Kits that include showy milkweed will receive rhizomes of that species. All other species will be included as transplants. Exact species composition dependent on nursery availability.
Table 3 (below). Tentative plant list for the Southern California Garden Kits (pick-up in Valley Center, CA). Kits within 5 miles of the coast (1 mile south of Santa Barbara) will not contain milkweed. All other species will be included as transplants. Exact species composition dependent on nursery availability.
Kit Regions and pick-up locations for California Habitat Kits.
This blog post is available as a PDF HERE.
ABOUT THE XERCES SOCIETY
The Xerces Society is an international nonprofit organization that protects the natural world through the conservation of invertebrates and their habitats. Our name (which is pronounced Zer-sees, or /ˈzɚˌsiz/) comes from the now-extinct Xerces blue butterfly (Glaucopsyche xerces), the first butterfly known to go extinct in North America as a result of human activities. The Xerces blue’s habitat was destroyed by development in the sand dunes of San Francisco, and the species was declared extinct by the 1940s. For nearly 50 years, we have protected endangered species and their habitats, produced ground-breaking publications, trained thousands of farmers and land managers to conserve habitat, and raised awareness about the importance and plights of invertebrates in forests, prairies, deserts, and oceans. Our key program areas are pollinator conservation, endangered species conservation, and reducing pesticide use and impacts.
In 2020, the Lodi Winegrape Commission’s Research, Education, & Communication Committee contributed funding to expand the Xerces hedgerow efforts in the Lodi AVA to even more willing growers, since the demand for kits exceeded the amount which could be supplied via grant funding and the goals of the project align with those of the Commission. For more information on the benefits of planting vineyard hedgerows, click HERE.
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Featured Image: Western monarch by Stephanie McKnight, Xerces Society.
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