The Freeborn County Natural Resources Conservation Service announces that producers interested in increasing monarch butterfly habitat on private lands need to apply for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program – Monarch Butterfly Habitat Development Project by Aug. 19. This deadline coordinates with all other EQIP deadlines.

Through EQIP, Freeborn County NRCS will work to provide technical and financial assistance for customers interested in the project, which spans ten Midwestern states to restore the habitat of endangered pollinators, including the monarch. The project will apply National Conservation Practices to develop and protect monarch habitats, which have lessened in the recent years predominately due to agriculture; these practices include conservation cover, prescribed burning, early successional habitat development/management, field border and riparian herbaceous Cover, among others. NRCS will also incorporate planting different species of milkweed for monarch pollination.

Anyone interested in applying for the Monarch Butterfly Habitat Development Project should contact Gary D. Kurer, at 507-373-7960 to submit an application.