Monarch Larva Monitoring Project - On-site Training

Instar Stages & Egg Description

May 30th, 2025

A small, dedicated crew gathered on Mąą Wákąčąk (Maa = Earth, Wakacak = Spiritual/Sacred) for training. These volunteers are participating in a new citizen science project we're helping to organize.

Five volunteers receive onsite monarch larva/milkweed sampling training.

This program, “Monarchs of Mąą Wákąčąk,” is a unique group led by us, that is within the parameters of the Monarch Larva Monitoring Project /Southern Wisconsin Milkweed Sampling Project. The MLMP is a project by the UW-Madison Arboretum and the Monarch Joint Venture. Our group is partnered with the Ho-Chunk Nation Division of Environmental Health.

Land manager, Randy Poelma led us on an insightful, informative, and thorough on-site training session. We covered a lot of ground selecting survey sights. The majority of the milkweed hasn't broken through the mat of last season’s grasses, but we did find it growing.

Randy even found an actual monarch egg! The first one spotted for the season! It'll be tricky telling them apart from tiny drops of milky sap.

Now that training is over, we've just a few final touches to implement to make everything operational. It's going to be a truly interesting summer!