Monarch Defenders Philly
We are the first chapter of the youth-founded website Monarch Defenders, based in Northwest Philadelphia. Our mission is to bring back the endangered monarch butterflies and other local biodiversity to NW Philly through ecological restoration one habitat at a time.
Building Back Local Biodiversity
Wildlife populations across the country and beyond are plummeting as we enter an unprecedented global biodiversity crisis. But we can build back biodiversity by creating local habitats that foster our native plants and wildlife for generations to come.
We are currently working to revitalize several ecologically degraded areas in NW Philly’s Wissahickon Valley Park to benefit local biodiversity and people. In partnership with local parks nonprofit Friends of Wissahickon, we manage two urban native meadows brought back from ecological degradation that measure an acre and a half of land and growing. These pocket meadows are small but mighty: every new acre restored is a beacon of hope for our city's bees, butterflies, birds, bats, amphibians, mammals, and more!
Buttercup Cottage
We started our first native meadow project at the ruins of Buttercup Cottage on Emlen St. in Mt. Airy. A 19th century farmhouse and barn, Buttercup Cottage was burned in the 1980s and its ruins have laid abandoned. The roughly one acre lot around the ruins succumbed to takeover from invasive species and illegal trash dumping and spray-painting. Beginning in summer 2023, with permission with Friends of Wissahickon, Monarch Defenders Philly started restoring the site. We cleaned up trash, took out invasive plants, made public-accessible trails through the area, and replanted the site with a variety of native flowers, grasses, trees, and shrubs to attract pollinators, birds, and other local wildlife. Now the pocket meadow and small native garden is a community nature oasis!
Navajo St. Meadow
Our second native meadow project got started at the triangle intersection between Cresheim Valley Drive and Navajo St., another neglected area in the Cresheim Woods section of Wissahickon Valley Park. The half-acre triangle between the two roads was mostly mowed grass, with the rest of the area covered in invasive plants. Plus, a large area of the degraded lot had been treated as a dumpsite and illegal trash dumping was rampant.
So we got to work. In partnership with Friends of Wissahickon, we transitioned much of the grass into a native pollinator meadow, while leaving mowed paths for people to walk around. We have cleaned up nearly all of the dumped trash and with the help of volunteers, have planted over 500 native wildflower plugs. We’ve also started restoring the degraded woodland around the site by replacing the invasive species with native trees and shrubs.
Now this triangle of land at the edge of the park is brimming with life, attracting lots of monarch butterflies, plus solitary bees, swallowtails, and warblers. Each new area of habitat matters, no matter how small!