Monarch garden tour at Custer Preserve highlights pollinator habitats

Pollinate your mind with ReWild North Fork.

The group — along with the Southold Peconic Civic Association and Group for the East End — will host a Monarch Waystation Garden Tour and Talk from 4 to 6 p.m. Thursday, July 23, at Southold Town’s Native Garden at Custer Preserve.

Attendees will learn how to support local pollinators, tour the gated Monarch Waystation Garden and hear about the site’s history.

“Monarchs have lost more than 80% of their milkweed habitat over the past two decades, and widespread pesticide use and habitat loss have decimated the insect populations that pollinators — including the birds that depend on them for food — need to survive,” said Nancy DePas Reinertsen, ReWild Long Island North Fork chapter leader and a master gardener.

“But last winter’s numbers are encouraging: the overwintering monarch population in Mexico was up 64% over the previous year, according to a report by Xerces,” she added. “It shows that when a community commits to bringing back the native plants monarchs need to survive at every stage of their lives, including the Long Island ecotypic milkweed species, butterfly populations can and will recover.”

Ms. Reinertsen and Taralynn Reynolds, outreach director for Group for the East End, will share the story behind the site’s official recognition as a Monarch Waystation by Monarch Watch. They will also explain how pesticide-free native milkweeds and nectar sources support monarchs and other wildlife, and offer steps residents can take to establish pollinator habitats at home.

Attendees will also hear from Southold Peconic Civic Association Vice President Ralph Reinertsen about the establishment of Southold Town’s Meadow and Arboretum more than 20 years ago and its relationship to the waystation and the North Fork DarkSky initiatives.

The Custer Preserve Native Meadow, along with a sister waystation at Downs Farm Preserve in Cutchogue, is a pesticide-free zone intended to provide habitat for migrating monarchs and other pollinators.

“The Monarch Waystation at Custer Preserve is proof of that work in action,” said Ms. Reynolds. “This Walk and Talk is a chance for North Fork neighbors to see it up close and take the first steps toward creating their own waystation at home. Planting even one butterfly weed plant can make a difference.”

Registration is free, and spots can be reserved on the Group for the East End’s website.

Attendees are advised to wear long sleeves, tuck their pants into their socks and treat their clothing with bug spray.