Monarch Larva Monitoring Project

Home
United States
Falcon Heights, MN
Monarch Larva Monitoring Project

The Monarch Larva Monitoring Project (MLMP) is a citizen science project involving volunteers from across North America in monarch research. 🦋

Want to find a trainer in your area? We have a list of trainers and regional experts on our website at the following URL: https://monarchjointventure.org/mlmp/mlmp-training/mlmp-attend-a-training

05/21/2026

Volunteers, calling themselves the Bright Hope Butterfly Garden Crew, have been monitoring for the Monarch Larva Monitoring Project at the Bright Hope Butterfly Garden at Pocahontas State Park in Chesterfield, Virginia, for 11 years!

The garden was created by several members of the Pocahontas Chapter of the Virginia Master Naturalists, with two species of locally native milkweed, including over 400 plants of common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) and butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa). Over the years, this group of dedicated MLMP volunteers has developed lots of knowledge of the monarch butterfly life cycle and the resources monarchs need to thrive, and they even wrote a book about their experiences.

Click the link in the comments to read our latest volunteer spotlight, or if you have an MLMP volunteer you think we should highlight, let us know!

05/17/2026

There's still time to get involved in the Monarch Larva Monitoring Project this summer!

With this training, you'll work through about 3 hours of on-demand content on your own schedule, with optional live sessions on May 27 and June 3 to engage with MLMP instructors and other participants and ask your questions.

As part of the Monarch Larva Monitoring Project, help contribute high-quality data on monarch breeding throughout the season by getting out into nature and monitoring a milkweed patch near you every week. Sign up to join us this season by clicking the link in the comments.

05/13/2026

The Monarch Larva Monitoring Project celebrated its 30th year of monitoring in 2025!

In those years, volunteers have monitored over 57,000 times, searching 4.9 million milkweed plants, and we'll surpass 5 million this year. Across those millions of plants, you observed over 500,000 monarch eggs and larvae.

Thank you to everyone who has monitored with us over those 30 years, and a special thank you to those of you who have been monitoring for 25 years or more:

Susan Bogle, 25 years; Sharon Duerkop, 26 years; Susan Payant, 26 years; Tim Vargo, 26 years; Jan and Dexter Sharp, 27 years; John and Marlene Weber, 27 years; Pete and Sanny Oberhauser, 28 years; Gayle Steffy, 29 years; Susan Jamison, 29 years; Karen Oberhauser (with many others), 30 years

05/08/2026

Our final live, interactive MLMP course of the season is on Tuesday!

If you're looking to get involved with the Monarch Larva Monitoring Project this summer, join us from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. CT on Tuesday, May 12, to learn how to monitor monarchs with MLMP.

If you can't join us on Tuesday, there are self-paced training options available, too. Find the links to sign up for all our remaining training sessions in the comments!

05/05/2026

Butterfly Pavilion in Westminster, Colorado, is the first stand-alone, Association of Zoos and Aquariums-accredited non-profit invertebrate zoo in the world. There, many dedicated individuals work together on monarch and pollinator conservation, including significantly increasing Monarch Larva Monitoring Project participation in the region.

Monitoring in Colorado is a true labor of love since monarchs are far less common than in the East. Most years, Colorado volunteers look at lots of plants before finding monarch eggs! But thanks to the network of MLMP volunteers trained through Butterfly Pavilion, we know that monarchs do use this area for breeding, with some years more productive than others.

Volunteers at Butterfly Pavilion have been monitoring for over 15 years. This photo shows Colorado’s first class of MLMP volunteers. Thanks to these volunteers, and all of you, for helping us collect data on monarch breeding across North America!

Read more about Butterfly Pavilion's monitoring efforts in our latest volunteer spotlight, which you can find in the comments.

04/29/2026

The 2026 monitoring season is here!

Journey North reports document monarchs in most of their northern breeding range, so as soon as your milkweed emerges, it's time to start monitoring. We recommend monitoring weekly, and remember, zero is an important number. You will likely have some monitoring days without seeing any eggs or larvae.

Happy monitoring, and we look forward to another great year with you!

04/28/2026

We've added one more training opportunity for the Monarch Larva Monitoring Project this year.

Designed with working adults in mind, this training blends flexible, self-paced learning with optional live office hours on the nights of May 27 and June 3. You’ll move through approximately three hours of on-demand content while engaging with instructors and fellow participants through discussion boards and live Zoom sessions.

The Monarch Larva Monitoring Project (MLMP) is a long-running community science program that helps track monarch breeding activity by collecting standardized data on monarch eggs, larvae, and milkweed plants. In this instructor-supported, self-paced course, you’ll learn how to participate in MLMP while building the skills and confidence needed to contribute high-quality data that support monarch conservation and research in the western United States.

Sign up and help monitor monarchs this year! The link to sign up is in the comments.

04/22/2026

It's Earth Day!

If you're looking for a way to get outside and get more connected with the natural world around you this year, consider participating in the Monarch Larva Monitoring Project. As part of this community science program, you'll monitor a location with milkweed to track evidence of monarch breeding (eggs and larvae). You'll also be able to help collect data on monarch survival, milkweed density, milkweed characteristics, aphid distribution, and rainfall at your site.

These observations help us understand monarch distribution and abundance across North America throughout the breeding season. Sites monitored can be urban, suburban, or rural, and can be public or private land, as long as there's milkweed present and you have permission to access it.

Get ready to monitor this spring by participating in one of the program's training options, such as a one-day training led by monarch experts on May 12. While this course is geared toward participants in the North, people across the continent can take the training and jump in to begin collecting data at any time.

If you prefer, you can also take a self-paced course. Sign up by clicking one of the links in the comments.

04/17/2026

Do you recognize these little yellow bugs? If you stop and look at milkweed plants often, there's a pretty good chance that you do!

These are Oleander Aphids, non-native insects that often inhabit milkweed plants, sometimes in very large quantities. Of the nearly 3,000 times that MLMP volunteers monitored for monarchs in 2025, volunteers reported finding aphids about 43% of the time.

Aphids can take up quite a bit of space on milkweed plants, so they're not often looked on favorably by monarch enthusiasts. Despite their negative reputation, they feed on the sap of the milkweed and don't harm monarch eggs or larvae.

While a high concentration of aphids on your milkweed may look "bad," these insects are not necessarily causing harm to monarchs. Unless they are in extremely high density, there are usually not enough aphids to kill the plant.

Photo: Mara Koenig/USFWS

04/14/2026

In 2025, MLMP volunteers monitored 2,948 times and looked at 237,049 milkweed plants! Thank you to everyone who contributed to these impressive numbers.

Across these 2,948 monitoring sessions, you recorded over 16,000 monarch eggs and over 11,000 monarch larvae.

Read more about the 2025 monitoring season by clicking the link in the comments. And if you'd like to get involved this year and help us add to these numbers in 2026, it's not too late to sign up.

Address

Falcon Heights, MN

Website

http://www.mlmp.org/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Monarch Larva Monitoring Project posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Organization

Send a message to Monarch Larva Monitoring Project:

Shortcuts

Want your organization to be the top-listed Non Profit Organization in Falcon Heights?