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Helping pollinators is more important than ever. Bees and butterflies are vital for our own survival.

Butterflies are important pollinators that help pollinate more than 80% of land plants.

A story in The Free Press on Sunday notes the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will soon decide whether to add monarchs to the federal endangered species list. The butterfly has already been on the international red list of threatened species.

If the monarch lands on the endangered species list, it will mean significant changes for local and state governments.

County and state highway departments would face more requirements for what they plant in road ditches and on other public land and how they maintain the land.

Adding more pollinator plants and allowing them to live until pollinators are done using them in the fall is something that local and state government and private landowners should be doing without being required to.

For those who want to plant some milkweed in their yard or gardens, it’s important to plant the best types.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says female monarchs will lay eggs on all nine milkweed species, but they prefer some over others. Swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) and common milkweed (A. syriaca) averaged the highest number of eggs, according to studies. Monarch caterpillars hatching from eggs laid on tall green milkweed (A. hirtella) and prairie milkweed (A. sullivantii) had the lowest survival rates.

Protecting and expanding the number of pollinators isn’t just a feel-good effort. Without an adequate number of pollinators we can’t grow and enjoy the food we need.

— Mankato Free Press, Sept. 17