A new collaborative effort to protect and enhance the monarch butterfly’s habitat in Iowa will take flight starting this summer.

The Iowa Monarch Con­serv­ation Consortium, established through the efforts of Iowa State University’s (ISU) College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, will take a science-based approach to bolster the monarch butterfly population and assist community-led implementation efforts.

Initial partners in the Iowa Monarch Conservation Con­sortium include farmer and conservation organizations, state ag­­encies, companies and ISU.

Iowa is the center of the monarch butterfly’s breeding range. However, the monarch butterfly population has declined over the last decade, according to...