From 28 July to 6 August 2023, 1,789 individuals, across Canada, Mexico and the United States, monitored more than 40,000 milkweed stems and reported seeing more than 13,000 monarchs, all stages combined. The Blitz provides a unique opportunity for individuals and organizations to collaborate across international borders to protect this iconic species. Data collected during the Blitz are published in the Trinational Monarch Knowledge Network repository and are available to anyone to consult and download. This snapshot of the monarch breeding population helps scientists better understand how to protect and conserve one of North America’s most emblematic species.

A trinational collaboration

This year, PROFAUNA of Mexico, through its program Correo Real, joined the list of organizations that help to organize and promote the Blitz across North America.

Additional monarch Blitz partners include the Environment and Climate Change Canada, and the Insectarium | Espace pour la vie in Canada, the National Commission of Protected Natural Areas (Conanp) in Mexico, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, Journey North, and the Monarch Joint Venture in the United States.

Participating community science involved in the Blitz

Canada:

• Mission Monarch (mission-monarch.org)

Mexico:

• Naturalista (naturalista.mx)
• Correo Real Program (correoreal.mx)

United States:

• Journey North (journey north.org)
• Monarch Larva Monitoring Project (mlmp.org)
• Western Monarch Milkweed Mapper (monarchmilkweedmapper.org)

Community science at Espace pour la vie

Aligned with the priorities of the Montréal 2030 strategic plan, the mission of Espace pour la vie is to bring people close to nature, to inspire them and to encourage them to adopt behaviors that foster the socioecological transition. It is in that context that numerous programs at the local, national and international level have been implemented, including the following community science projects run by the Insectarium de Montréal:

Biodiversity Challenge
eButterfly
Nunavik Sentinels
Mission Monarch

Espace pour la vie brings together the Biodôme, the Biosphère, the Insectarium, the Jardin botanique and the Planétarium. These five prestigious City of Montréal institutions form Canada’s largest natural-science museum complex. Together, they are launching a daring, creative urban movement, encouraging all of us to rethink the connection between humankind and nature and to cultivate a new way of living.