300-mile Missouri butterfly trail to create pollinator haven

ST. LOUIS -- A nearly 300-mile long butterfly conservation corridor following the route of  Missouri’s Highway 13 will connect what are currently fragmented habitats into an expansive pollinator haven. Community interest group Hamilton County Alliance is behind the project in collaboration with the Missouri Department of Conservation and several other state and federal stakeholders.  

After being put on pause during the Covid-19 pandemic, the project is picking up traction again and is almost finished with its initial stage, which consists of identifying community partners and defining their roles and responsibilities. Community partners agreeing to act as destination stops along the route include the Springfield Botanical Gardens and the Branson Butterfly Palace. 

There are five more phases of the project yet to be completed.        

The 26-mile-wide corridor, which transverses 12 western Missouri counties, plans to “pollinate” plants and local economies alike by attracting pollinators and “visitors interested in nature, conservation, and Agri-tourism,” according to the project description. The path also aligns well with the migration patterns of butterflies traveling between Canada and Central America/Mexico. 

Those behind the conservation initiative emphasize the vital role of pollinators in sustaining our food supply, an issue that is becoming increasingly prevalent as biodiversity steadily declines and global population continues to rise.        

Although all pollinators are welcome to the habitats, there will be specific efforts to attract monarch butterflies, a species which the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service recently proposed as an addition to its threatened species list.

Communities that will be connected by the corridor include Hamilton, Springfield and Branson.