York Region to spare Richmond Hill pollinator garden from mowing following ‘heartbreaking’ damage

'There is no way we can protect monarch butterflies if we’re not protecting the milkweed'

Yorkregion.com
August 12, 2020

Broken stems, wilted leaves and flopped flowers – thousands of milkweed plants gone, just like that.

A Richmond Hill mother and daughter who were left reeling from an unexpected setback in their years-long conservation efforts said they were relieved to know their hand-planted pollinator garden will be spared from future mowing.

Rachel Parent has been running the garden on a roughly 1,000-square-metre open lot as a pilot project outside her house at Bayview Avenue and Forest Ridge Road for more than three years, to create a natural habitat for monarch butterflies and other pollinators, she said.

York Region has agreed to leave the garden out of grass-cutting work in the future after accidentally mowing down a "vital portion" where 5,000 milkweeds were planted on a steep slope behind the guardrail along Bayview, Parent said.

On the morning of Aug. 4, the resident said she and her mom Lilian Dominguez were “shocked” to find part of the garden left in ruins after what appeared to be mowing work.

“It’s devastating to see they’re all gone,” her mom Lilian Dominguez said.

Several monarch chrysalises on the milkweeds would have hatched into butterflies the next day if the plants weren't razed, she said.

Rachel said she assumed the garden sat on the property of Richmond Hill, which would be supportive of her endeavors to protect monarch butterflies.

Earlier this summer, the city declared Aug. 22 "Flight of the Monarch Day" in an effort to raise awareness of the iconic butterfly species, in addition to a number of incentives previously implemented to help protect monarch butterflies in the community.

“It’s heartbreaking because this formed an ecosystem within itself and it wasn’t bothering anyone and it looked more beautiful,” Parent said, adding they also found an injured snake in the garden.

It turned out to be the regional maintenance staff who mowed the area as part of the grass-cutting activity to keep infrastructure like guardrails, ditches and shoulders in a good state of repair for safety and aesthetic purposes, according to Erion Poloska, district manager of the region’s roads and traffic operations.

Poloska wrote in an email that the region owns the right-of-way over the ditch line and would avoid cutting the area in the future, as long as there are no sight line or safety issues.

Rachel said the region also suggested that she sign an encroachment contract to continue with her project.

“I’m excited to know the garden will be protected,” Rachel said, noting she would like to rebuild the damaged portion of the garden as quickly as possible in order to continue to protect the monarchs.

She said the biggest concern was that the population of monarch butterflies has been declining, and much of their natural habitat wasn’t being properly protected in Richmond Hill.

Monarch caterpillars feed exclusively on the leaves of milkweed, which is also the only host plant for the unique creatures known for their 4,000-to-5,000-kilometre migration to overwintering sites in Mexico.

Parent said she’s seen large swaths of pollinator-friendly plants mowed from several open fields and empty lots across the city.

“There is no way we can protect monarch butterflies if we’re not protecting the milkweed,” Parent said.

The Richmond Hill resident said she also brought the incident at the garden to city councillor David West, who has been a monarch enthusiast and spearheaded a number of initiatives to protect monarchs.

“Hearing about this situation is disappointing given all that we have done in Richmond Hill to improve monarch and pollinator habitat over the past few years,” West wrote in an email.

He said the city has made great efforts over the past few years to promote natural habitats for monarchs and other pollinators.

“For bees and monarchs, a naturalized area is a buffet and a mowed lawn is just a Gobi Desert,” the councillor said.