NORTON – Many might already know that the monarch population is declining due to increased use of herbicides that kill milkweed. Milkweed is the only plant on which monarchs lay their eggs and is the monarch caterpillars’ sole food source.

Loss of habitat also has affected monarchs here in the United States and in Mexico, where the monarchs migrate every year to spend the winter. Their chance of survival in the wild to begin with is only 10 percent.

After crossing Lake Erie from Canada, monarchs find resting and feeding grounds here in Northeast Ohio.

Norton native, resident and University of Akron employee Ruth Nine Duff is helping the monarch population to thrive in our community and beyond.

“Adult monarchs live for about two to six weeks,” Duff said. “In late summer, a distinctive monarch generation is hatched and it’s these butterflies that journey to Mexico. The migrating monarchs are able to store energy to fly to Mexico and live the winter there.”

In warm weather, butterflies can cover about 20 to 30 miles a day.

Migrating monarchs feed on the nectar of wildflowers such as milkweed, zinnia, Mexican sunflower, verbena and butterfly bush, many of which Nine Duff provides on her property.

In Mexico, between 30 and 60 million butterflies will collect in high mountain woodlands, where cool temperatures allow the insects to enter a hibernation-like state and live off stockpiled energy.

In the spring, changes in daylight and temperatures cause the monarchs in Mexico to become lively again and their reproductive organs fully develop. They fly from Mexico to Texas and other southern Gulf states, where they lay eggs and die. Those offspring come back to us in the spring.

Female monarchs can lay as many as 1,100 eggs after having mated several times. The eggs are collected when they are found on the underside of the milkweed leaf.

“By collecting the eggs and placing them with a leaf in a sterilized container, it gives the tiny caterpillars a better chance at survival,” says Nine Duff. “The eggs hatch in about three to eight days. My husband, Daryl built a special unit to house the eggs and we have five layers to accommodate their development. Of course the top of the unit has the chrysalises. When the adults emerge after about 25 days, I can release them and know that I have given them a fighting chance,” Nine Duff notes.”

“This is my scrap bucket,” Nine Duff said. “I keep all the leaves even if I think I have found all the eggs and larvae on them. They are so tiny that they can be overlooked. I check it often along with changing out the trays to remove the frass which basically is poop.”

Last year, Nine Duff released 143 adult monarchs and is sure to release hundreds this year.

The neighbor kids come over often and she expresses to them how important it is for the conservation of our butterflies and all living things.

“The kids need to learn about nature,” Nine Duff said.

Pointing to a decorative top of the enclosure it says, Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over it became a butterfly.

“I love that,” Nine Duff said.