Environmental Incentives partnered with the Monarch Joint Venture and other monarch experts to design a monarch habitat assessment tool for roadside vegetation managers. Roadsides can support monarch and pollinator habitat if properly managed, and are an important opportunity to increase the availability of habitat for the migratory monarch butterfly. This tool will provide better information for roadside managers to identify where existing habitat is located and prioritize areas for enhanced management for monarchs and pollinators.
In the recently released paper, published in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, we evaluated the performance of the rapid assessment protocol in comparison to a more time-intensive and exacting protocol used in monarch habitat assessments (the Integrated Monarch Monitoring Program). We found that the rapid protocol yields similar estimates for key metrics. While less precise, the rapid protocol still provides actionable information for roadside managers at a fraction of the cost.
Review the paper here: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2019.00386/full
