OKC Living Classroom grants provide funding for the creation of monarch gardens at schools, inspiring conservation action and awareness in students. Applications due Friday, April 18, 2025.
The Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden is encouraging metro area schools to apply for its OKC Living Classroom grant program, which includes professional development opportunities for teachers, access to the National Wildlife Federation’s Monarch Mission Curriculum, and up to $1,500 for each school selected to purchase supplies to create a monarch garden. The program is a partnership with the Oklahoma Monarch and Pollinator Collaborative (Okies for Monarchs) and the National Wildlife Federation.
Oklahoma is a vital part of the path taken by monarch butterflies on their annual migrations between central Mexico and southern Canada and pollinator gardens provide a necessary stopping point throughout the journey. Each migration includes generations of monarchs, meaning they will lay eggs which will hatch, cocoon, emerge, and continue the voyage.
“Over the last 30 years, we’ve seen a precipitous decline in monarch butterfly populations—more than 90 percent,” said OKC Zoo Conservation Scientist Dr. Emily Geest, who studies butterflies. “There are many contributing factors, but the main reason is habitat loss across their breeding and migratory grounds.”
If monarchs can’t find food or a safe place to start the next generation, the migration journey stops, Geest said.
“Oklahoma sits in the middle of the migratory pathway, so habitat here is critical for monarchs’ survival,” she said. “With the OKC Living Classroom Grants, schools can receive assistance and training to create their own monarch gardens, which provides this critical habitat for monarchs to be able to lay eggs and nectar plants to provide a food source on their migratory path.”
To apply for the grant, schools must agree to maintain and commit resources to the garden for at least three years, dedicate a minimum of 100 square feet of planted space on school grounds that serves as a monarch habitat and outdoor classroom, and include native milkweed and nectar plants, among other requirements. More information and a link to download application forms can be found online at okczoo.org/okc-living-classroom-grant-program. Applications are due by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, April 18, 2025.
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