LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Did you know monarch butterflies migrate through Southern Nevada?
Now, there might be even more fluttering through the Las Vegas Valley thanks to a conversation initiative stemming from classroom learning.
Students at K.O. Knudson Middle School have successfully convinced Las Vegas Mayor Shelley Berkley to sign the Mayor's Monarch Pledge, committing the city to plant milkweed in parks across Las Vegas to support the endangered insects.
VIDEO: Geneva Zoltek talks to middle school students who became the catalyst for planting of milkweeds in parks across Las Vegas
The initiative began last year when a 7th-grade science class learned about monarch butterflies' impressive 3,000-mile migration journey across North America (which crosses our desert region) and their entire life cycle.
"We found a monarch butterfly as a caterpillar, and we nourished it until it became a monarch butterfly and we tagged it to locate it," Dakotah, now an 8th-grade student, explained.
During their studies, the class learned that monarch butterflies exclusively lay their eggs on milkweed plants, and that caterpillars feed on the leaves once hatched. The students also discovered the species was in trouble due to declining population numbers.
"We noticed out of all the butterflies that the monarch butterflies were more in the endangerment zone," Dakotah said.
About a year ago, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to list Monarch Butterflies as threatened under the Endangered Species Act due to the impacts of habitat loss, insecticides and the effects of climate change. According to the most recent assessment, by 2080, the probability of extinction is greater than 95%.
Motivated by their findings, the students decided to write directly to Mayor Berkley asking for her help in protecting the species. To their surprise, she responded!
She'll join hundreds of other officials across the United States in the conservation effort, bringing Las Vegas onboard the fight to preserve the iconic species.
At a recognition ceremony Monday at the school's pollinator garden, Berkley was gifted her very own milkweed plant.
"I look forward to joining the 600 other mayors across the United States," Berkley said. "I am so proud that you have taken this project on and recognized that we citizens can make a difference."
“We will be planting milkweed in city parks across Las Vegas and we’re doing that because of you," Berkley continued.
Principal Mike Sashay said, from civic engagement to real-world conservation, it's all part of the learning experience.
"Curiosity is the biggest thing, right? Once they're curious, they ask those questions, and they get those responses. They're encouraged, and they just continue to learn and grow. And that's what we have here at K.O. Knudson," Sashay said.
The students aren't stopping with monarchs; they've already set their sights on their next conservation target.
"We want to save the honey bees next," Dakotah said.
