Insects at risk of extinction find safety in gardens filled with native plants blooming under the care of community scientists and conservation activists.
Neosho Parthenia Brown was given 160 acres of land by the United States government in 1899 as recompense for the forced removal the Muscogee and Euchee tribes faced under the Indian Removal Act and Dawes Act. Over 100 years later, her great-granddaughter Jane Breckinridge transformed part of that land into the Euchee Butterfly Farm.
The farm focuses on the preservation of the migrating monarch butterfly, featuring swaths of indigenous plants grown to preserve the biodiversity of Oklahoma by providing food and homes to native insects, Breckinridge said. The monarch butterfly usually makes an annual appearance in Oklahoma in late September and early October on its way to Mexico for the cold months. However, due to a loss of habitat and safe food sources on its migration path, the butterfly is currently listed as vulnerable by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Breckinridge started the farm in 2013 at the tail-end of her career in publishing. She lived in St. Paul, Minnesota with her husband, a butterfly farmer. When she turned 40, Breckinridge said she felt homesick for Oklahoma and wanted to return to her family’s land.
While working remotely for her publishing company, Breckinridge and her husband began work on establishing the Euchee Butterfly Farm. Breckinridge focused her efforts on establishing a haven for the migrating monarchs out of fear for their decline, but she also wanted to ensure it would benefit many other native Oklahoman pollinators.
“The monarchs are just the canary in the coal mine for what’s happening for all of our pollinators,” Breckinridge said.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, there is a steady decline in pollinator populations across the nation predominantly caused by the use of harsh pesticides and loss of habitat. Pollinators contribute to 35% of the world’s food crops, making their decline not just dangerous for the insects, but for humans. Honey bees in particular are vital to food production, pollinating $15 billion dollars worth of crops in the U.S. annually.
However, it is not just bee and butterfly populations at risk. James Hung, assistant professor of biology, said it is likely that despite the fact bees are the “poster child” for insect conservation efforts, only around half of the species of bees present in Oklahoma are known. He added that many other species of insects are likely still waiting to be discovered.
“If you don’t know what you have, then you don’t know what needs to be protected,” Hung said.
Brenda Smith, conservation biologist and heritage zoologist, said conservation groups overall struggle to focus on insects over other kinds of animals because of a bias towards “cute” creatures such as birds and mammals. However, conservation organizations like the Euchee Butterfly Farm are making moves toward balancing out the efforts.
It’s not just pollinators like bees and butterflies that are in trouble according to Hung. Hung said species of decomposers, predators and soil agitators are also at risk of going extinct. However, it’s uncommon for people to think about those branches of the ecosystem because they are behind the scenes.
While each kind of insect plays a vital role in the ecosystem, Smith said they are also important because they are present.
“I want people to understand the intrinsic value of (biodiversity) existing. Biodiversity has just as much right to exist as we do,” Smith said.
Despite the need for more information on the native insects of Oklahoma, there is a lack of personnel and public interest to fuel insect research in the state, Smith said. She explained that Oklahoma is often perceived as boring despite the hundreds of animal species that call the state home.
In Smith’s role as a heritage zoologist, she is often asked for information regarding the prevalence of insect species native to Oklahoma. Due to a lack of data, she often has few answers.
“It’s kind of unsettling,” Smith said.
Every 10 years, the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation releases a report including a list of species needing conservation efforts. In 2005, the report listed 248 species. 10 years later, the number reached 312.
Smith said the next report will likely have a longer list. She also said because of the lack of personnel able to research and monitor Oklahoma’s species, the lists are probably only a fraction of the true number of animals that need help. Some of them may never get help, Hung said.
“Every species has earned the right to be here through millennia of not going extinct,” Hung said.
Hung said biodiversity is vital for resilience. As the planet changes, each insect species will handle it differently. Even if several species play a similar role, one may thrive in a particular annual climate over the others. Redundancies in the insect population prevent failure.
“It’s like we are disassembling the airplane as we fly. You remove one screw, the plane will probably keep going. How many screws can you remove and still expect the plane to land intact after hitting several storms? We don’t know,” Hung said. “As passengers on that plane, we have a vested interest in keeping every bolt in place.”
People outside of the scientific field are making efforts to save the state’s insect population. Breckinridge said one of the primary purposes of the Euchee Butterfly Farm and the Tribal Alliance for Pollinators, a related organization, is to involve and educate tribal members about the importance of preserving pollinating populations.
Early on in her mission to protect the migrating monarchs, Breckinridge said she went to legislators to ask about planting more milkweed, the main source of food for monarch butterflies, and improving habitats in Oklahoma. She said her pleas were not received well.
“I was literally laughed out of offices,” Breckinridge said. “But I never got that from tribal leaders. They would just ask me how to fix it.”
Breckinridge has worked with tribes not only in Oklahoma, but also across North America on setting aside land for pollinator habitats and educating tribal members on the best practices for protecting the migrating monarch. She said the farm has also helped with economic development for the Muscogee Creek tribe and encouraged young tribal members to look into careers in science.
Hung said bringing Indigenous perspectives to the conservation discussion is vital to encouraging not just the acknowledgment that all insect species are important, but respect for the bugs as well. It also helps with reestablishing the idea that humans and the rest of the environment are intrinsically connected, Smith said.
Before the butterfly farm’s development, Breckinridge said it was rare to find conservation groups engaging with tribes in conservation efforts.
“Nobody was even considering tribes as environmental partners. It was very offensive, honestly. You’ve got the original inhabitants of this continent. We took really good care of it for millennia, and we protected all these animals that are sacred to us. We've got tribes with professional environmental departments and academics,” Breckinridge said. “We've worked very hard to try and make sure that tribes have a seat at the table because they have earned it.”
Breckinridge and her organization’s efforts are part of the movement for community science, in which average residents participate in and contribute to scientific advancement and discoveries.
Hung said the limited number of trained scientists in the U.S. prevents the monitoring and conservation efforts necessary to protect the United States’ insect populations, but community scientists are able to help. Participating in community science can range from developing nonprofit organizations to educate about insects to posting a picture of a bug to an app.
Mary Hogan, an environmental program specialist, often finds herself snapping photos of insects she comes across to iNaturalist, an online community-built database for monitoring biodiversity. She helps maintain and monitor a pollinator garden at the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality, developed as part of an effort headed by the Sustainability Alliance to engage more businesses and communities in the effort to preserve biodiversity.
Pollinator gardens have risen in popularity in recent years, popping up in areas such as private backyards to the sides of highways across the state. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife service suggests people looking to grow a pollinator garden prioritize plants native to the area that are most likely to thrive. Hogan said the garden at her office is low-maintenance and, after the initial growth, requires very little water compared to more contemporary gardens.
Patches of land designed specifically to feed pollinators and other native insects are also ideal spots for the migrating monarch, which travel up to 2,500 miles each year and use up a lot of energy in the process.
“If you’re a little butterfly, you’ve got to find some place to eat,” Breckinridge said. “Ideally, those are our beautiful native wildflowers.”
Hogan said when establishing a pollinator garden, it can take years for it to grow into its full potential. She said she still often finds species of insects, birds and mammals she’s never seen before in the garden at her office several years after it was established.
About four times since Hogan began her journey as a community scientist, she has taken pictures of insects that turned out to be vital for filling in information voids across Oklahoma, she said. With the help of community scientists, Hung has collected information about species that trained biologists had trouble finding beforehand. He said community science is not a perfect solution that will miraculously solve the problem of lack of data, but it helps tremendously.
“It’s no effort on my part, but … obviously it makes a big difference,” Hogan said.
Hogan said the development of the garden at the Department of Environmental Quality serves as proof that growing native plants help encourage biodiversity. Additionally, Hogan said, it helps normalize the idea of moving away from tailored lawns of non-native grass and plant species to more varied yards featuring plants designed to fit Oklahoma’s unique environment.
A lot of major pollinator gardens in Oklahoma are developed on private land set aside by the owners for conservation efforts and research, including the Euchee Butterfly Farm.
“(Conservation) can’t be something we just assume the federal governments or even the tribal governments or environmental organizations are going to do,” Breckinridge said. “It’s going to take every single one of us coming together to do this.”
This story was edited by Ismael Lele, Peggy Dodd and Anusha Fathepure. Lily Grace Battles and Avery Avery copy edited this story.
