What monarch butterfly waystation names and characteristics can reveal about program participants

Abstract

Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) have undergone large scale population declines leading to multiple conservation organizations encouraging the creation of monarch butterfly habitat. Monarch Watch encourages volunteers to create and register monarch habitat as Monarch Waystations. During registration waystations can be named. Names reflect personal meanings, community attachments, and cultural insights and waystation names in particular can provide insights into what ideas and concepts volunteers associate with a habitat creation program. A total of 37,916 registered waystation names were examined to determine most commonly used names, words and word themes. The most common types of waystations were medium‐sized suburban gardens in the United States. The most common waystation names referenced yard placement with My Backyard the most frequently used. Place‐themed words were the most used followed by animal‐themed words. Within animal‐themed words, insect words were the most used followed by mammals and birds. Theological/mortality themed words were present with memorial the most common word, implying a permanence of waystations. The most common familial terms included mom and grandma suggesting inter‐generational gardening is occurring, which is known to strengthen communities and build well‐being. The frequency of positive emotion/feeling words implies that participating in habitat creation programs is a positive experience and participation may reduce conservation apathy. Further research into habitat creation programs and the longevity of habitat created as well as the motivations and demographics of participants can help tailor habitat volunteer programs to desired audiences and increase overall participation. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.