By Tabitha Evans Moore
Editor & Publisher

LYNCHBURG, Tenn. — If you’ve noticed a flash of orange drifting over a hayfield or stopping on a patch of goldenrod lately, you’re not imagining things. Monarch butterflies are making their way through Lynchburg on their long trip south, and the next week or so is the best time of year to see them.

Monarch Watch, a research program at the University of Kansas, has tracked the fall migration for decades using tagged butterflies recovered by volunteers across the continent. Those records show the migration moves south at a fairly predictable pace. At 35 degrees north latitude, which runs just below Lynchburg, monarch numbers usually peak from about September 24 to October 6, with the midpoint around October 2. A strong cold front can shift that timing a few days in either direction. Migrating monarchs also tend to gather overnight in sheltered trees, so where you spot one in the evening, there may be many more close by.

The butterflies passing over Moore County are headed for the mountain fir forests of central Mexico, a trip that can cover up to 2,800 miles one way. None of them has ever been there. That is because the monarch’s round trip spans several generations, and no single butterfly makes the whole journey. In spring, the butterflies that spent the winter in Mexico fly north, lay their eggs on milkweed in Texas and the southern states, and die. Their children and grandchildren carry the migration north through the summer, each living only a few weeks. Then, in late summer, a different kind of monarch emerges. This “super generation” puts off breeding and can live eight months or more, long enough to fly to Mexico, ride out the winter, and start the cycle again. Their descendants usually reach Tennessee again around April.

It has been a rough stretch for monarchs, but the last two years brought good news. Scientists can’t count billions of butterflies one by one, so each winter they measure how much forest the clustered monarchs cover in Mexico. In the winter of 2023–24, the eastern population covered just 0.9 hectares, or about 2.2 acres, one of the lowest counts on record. It climbed to 1.79 hectares the next winter. This past winter, monarchs covered 2.93 hectares, or about 7.24 acres, a 64 percent increase and the second straight year of growth. Researchers credit good summer conditions across much of the breeding range in 2025.

Monarchs are not out of the woods yet. Scientists estimate the population needs about 6 hectares of occupied forest to remain stable over the long term, roughly twice this year’s count. In the mid-1990s, the colonies covered about 18 hectares. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed listing the monarch as a threatened species in December 2024, but the final decision has been pushed back with no set date, and conservation groups sued the agency in February to force a deadline.

Why should a farming community care about a butterfly? Because monarchs are part of a larger team of pollinators that keeps food on the table. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, one out of every three bites of food Americans eat depends on honey bees and other pollinators. Honey bees alone pollinate about $15 billion worth of U.S. crops each year, including more than 130 fruits and vegetables. Closer to home, that includes the squash, cucumbers, melons, pumpkins, apples, and berries that fill Moore County gardens and roadside stands.

Monarchs are not the workhorses that bees are when it comes to pollination, but they are one of the best-known signs of pollinator health. The milkweed and wildflowers that feed monarchs also feed bees, and honey bees have had their own rough few years. A national survey led by Auburn University found beekeepers lost a record 55.6 percent of their managed colonies between April 2024 and April 2025. Losses fell to 39.9 percent over the most recent survey year, closer to the levels beekeepers have seen for more than a decade, but still high. The president of the American Honey Producers Association called it “a crisis in slow motion.”

The good news is that helping pollinators doesn’t take a lot of land or money, and there are things you can do right now.

Let the late bloomers bloom. Monarchs need nectar to fuel the rest of their trip, and fall flowers such as goldenrod, asters, and ironweed are prime fuel stops. If you have zinnias still going in the garden, leave them be.

Hold off on mowing. If you can, wait until later in October to bush hog field edges, fence rows, and ditches where wildflowers are blooming.

Go easy on the spray. Avoid using insecticides on or near plants that are in bloom, when bees and butterflies are feeding.

Report what you see. Journey North, a free community science project, maps monarch sightings across the continent. Your backyard sightings can help researchers track this year’s migration.

Getting ready for spring takes a little planning now.

Plant milkweed this fall. Monarch caterpillars eat only milkweed, and fall is a good time to sow native milkweed seed, which benefits from a winter of cold before it sprouts. Native choices for Middle Tennessee include common milkweed, swamp milkweed, and butterfly weed. Avoid tropical milkweed, which is sold at many garden centers but can disrupt monarch migration and spread disease in the South.

Plan for early flowers. When monarchs and bees return in April, they need nectar right away. Native spring-blooming plants help them get started.

Ask questions at the garden center. When buying plants, ask whether they were treated with systemic insecticides, which can harm the pollinators you are trying to help.

Support local beekeepers. Buying local honey helps keep hives, and the pollination they provide, in Moore County.

For advice on native plants that do well in local soil, contact the UT-TSU Extension office in Moore County at 931-759-7163.

So the next time a monarch floats past the courthouse square, take a moment to watch. It is on its way to a place it has never seen, following a path its great-grandparents flew. With a little help from local gardens and fields, its descendants will be back next spring. •

About the Lynchburg Times: The Lynchburg Times is Moore County’s locally owned, independent news source and the only local media source owned by a Lynchburg native and one of the few Tennessee newsrooms owned by a woman. Our reporting is supported by readers, small business partners, and underwriters who believe community journalism matters. If this story was valuable to you, consider becoming a supporter at lynchburgtimes.com.