The Deschutes Land Trust and Deschutes Brewery are partnering to help the iconic Western monarch butterfly. This fluttery, orange and black butterfly with polka dots is currently in peril due to habitat loss, pesticide use, and climate change, among other things. With the Land Trust working to provide additional habitat for monarchs in Central Oregon, we reached out to Deschutes Brewery, who has been more than happy to lend a hand!

In January 2020, Deschutes Brewery staff volunteered with the Land Trust to pack milkweed seed packets to hand out to our community members. Since then, nearly 12,000 milkweed seeds have been given away to Central Oregonians! With these seeds growing in yards, gardens, and on balconies, we hope to see monarch butterflies flitting about on their annual migration throughout Central Oregon!

This month, the Land Trust provided 70 milkweed plants to Deschutes Brewery. Half of these were showy milkweed and half were narrowleaf milkweed, the two native milkweed species to Central Oregon. Eight brewery employees rolled up their sleeves on a hot day to help provide more habitat for monarchs and other pollinators. For many of them, months of working remotely due to COVID-19 meant it was the first time they’d seen their co-workers since the pandemic hit.

Brewery staff planted their milkweed in three locations—the native plant garden in front of their main brewery, along the parking lot near their administration building, and near their hopyard at their warehouse. In addition, a sign about pollinator habitat informs passersby about the importance of the native plant garden. A few additional milkweed plants were taken to employees’ homes, where they’ll add even more monarch habitat to the area. They celebrated the planting afterwards with some cold beer outside the Deschutes Brewery tasting room.

Cheers to Deschutes Brewery for partnering with us on monarch conservation!