NYC gardeners push 'year of the milkweed' to save monarch butterflies from extinction

WNYC News

The flitting fiery orange and black wings of the monarch butterfly, which once signaled the coming of spring, have become an increasingly rare sight.

The majestic insect's populations on the East Coast dwindled roughly 90% from 1996 to 2013, according to U.S. Fish and Wildlife estimates. Since then, their numbers have declined even further.

But a new effort on Governors Island is a small part of a nationwide effort to help the monarch recover. Gardeners are planting as much milkweed as they can fit on eight sites around the 172-acre island south of Manhattan.