project leader
Cathy S
location
Cross Bay Boulevard
Queens
latest update rss
Thank you to our donors!

the project

Do you want to help restore New York City’s milkweed habitat for one of America’s best known insect? The monarch butterfly’s amazing yearly migration to Mexico has been called a wonder of nature. Once numbering in the tens of millions, the monarch’s numbers have been severely reduced due to habitat loss in North America. Their life cycle depends on one family of plants – the milkweeds. Adult females will only lay their eggs on species of milkweed and the plant has been decimated due to current farming practices, development of open fields and genetic alteration of crops. By planting milkweeds in open fields, vacant lots and along their summer breeding and migratory route, we hope to offset some of this loss and help restore this magnificent pollinator to more sustainable populations.

With help from students from our local Broad Channel, Queens middle school, P.S. 47, we need you to help us raise $1500 to purchase milkweed plants and do our first planting by the end of April 2014, in honor of Earth Day! With your support, we hope to be able to purchase enough milkweed plants to perform additional plantings throughout the summer. Operation Milkweed: Save the Monarch will be rolled out to community gardens and public spaces throughout New York and New Jersey if our program is a success! 

the steps

  1. Purchase milkweed, trowels and topsoil.
  2. Create an engaging curriculum on the relationship between milkweeds and the monarch butterfly to present to schools such as P.S. 47.
  3. Perform first planting of milkweeds with the middle school science class from P.S 47 at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in honor of Earth Day 2014.
  4. High school youth stewards from our Restoration Corps program will water the plants every other day for the first six weeks.
  5. Plan for our next milkweed planting with local school children for the end of May 2014.

why we're doing it

As a coastal conservation non-profit founded in 1961, we have spent many years working to protect and preserve our coastal shorelines and wildlife habitat through our programs in education, community engagement, advocacy and habitat restoration.

Almost a year and a half ago, our neighborhood in Broad Channel, Queens (a sliver of an island in the heart of Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, a unit of Gateway National Recreation Area) was devastated by Hurricane Sandy. We experienced six feet of flooding, an experience shared by our neighbors, students, schools and local businesses.

Helping to rebuild and restore our community and natural environment is high on our priority list and we are fortunate to reside and work in the heart of Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, a jewel in the crown of NYC’s ecological resources with more than 13,000 acres of water, salt marsh, meadowland, beaches, dunes and upland buffer woodlands. Over 330 species of birds have been recorded here, as we are along the Atlantic Flyway, along with over 70 species of butterflies and 107 species of finfish.

Everyone loves butterflies and in particular the monarch butterfly. Through Operation Milkweed: Save the Monarch, we hope to restore their habitat with the help of our local schoolchildren and encourage others to take action and join us in future plantings!

Conversation

I want to be involved.

budget

600 milkweed plants including delivery: $900.00

Trowels: $100.00

Topsoil and organic fertilizer: $100.00

6 weeks of watering by youth Restoration Corps: $300.00



SUBTOTAL = $1,500
ioby Platform Fee  $35
3rd Party Credit Card Processing Fee (3%) $45
TOTAL TO RAISE = $1,580


RAISED = $2,615
ioby Platform Fee  $35
3rd Party Credit Card Processing Fee (3%) $75
TOTAL TO DISBURSE = $2,505

Revised Budget, 6/25/2014

Revised Budget:

1200 milkweed plants including delivery: $1700.00

Trowels: $100.00

Topsoil and organic fertilizer: $200.00

6 weeks of watering by youth Restoration Corps: $500.00

updates

Thank you to our donors!

Thank you to our donors!

Wow! We exceeded our fundraising goal by over $1000.00! Thank you so much for your incredible generosity, the enthusiastic response was really appreciated by all of us including the students of P.S. 47 who completed their first milkweed planting on Friday, April 26th!

We are now planning the second phase of rolling out Operation Milkweed: Save the Monarch which includes a second planting and rolling this out to the Barnegat Bay and Delaware Bayshore regions of New Jersey! If you'd like to follow Operation Milkweed: Save the Monarch, please like us on Facebook, or sign up for our mailing list!

Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/American-Littoral-Society/30302622758

Sign up for our mailing list:
http://littoralsociety.org/index.php/join-our-mailing-list

With gratitude,

Don Riepe and the American Littoral Society

Thank you to our donors! (Match runs until midnight tonight!)

We have reached our fundraising goal of $1500.00! Thank you so much to all who have donated to our campaign, Operation Milkweed: Save the Monarch, during Earth Month 2014!

And special thanks to National Parks Conservation Association and ioby for the incredible support on this partnership.

The NPCA match will continue until midnight tonight, April 21st, 2014 – and even though we have met our initial goal, we will be using the extra money raised to purchase milkweed and perform additional plantings this spring. So you can still continue to donate! Thanks to everyone!

photos

This is where photos will go once we build flickr integration

donors

  • MH
  • Ann Woodward
  • Anonymous
  • Barbara Segal
  • ckolinger
  • Bayside Anglers Group
  • Anonymous
  • Kathy Scheppke
  • Charissa C.
  • Anonymous
  • John G.
  • S. Rosenberg
  • Anonymous
  • Erwin Scheppke
  • Judy
  • herberttrossman
  • Anonymous
  • Lisa S.
  • Anonymous
  • ronnie campbell
  • Carol C
  • Lisa D
  • Anonymous
  • Anonymous
  • Ricki R.
  • KATH G.
  • Emily P.
  • Jo Ann M.
  • gerald s.
  • Anonymous
  • Claudia Rosen
  • Anonymous
  • Shirley Secunda
  • Philippa
  • Barbara K.
  • Elise B.
  • Anonymous
  • J. Vollmer
  • Jenna L.
  • Gerry McGee
  • Carol A. Butler
  • carole d.
  • Don Riepe
  • Sandra M.
  • D Guiney
  • Rachel S.
  • Anne Lazarus
  • Christine
  • Kingsboider
  • gary
  • Russell B.
  • Margaret K.
  • Miss Tobey Martin
  • Tim Dillingham, American Littoral Society
  • Hyoung Ho and Soja Sohn
  • Anonymous
  • Godshall Family