Alissa Zhu

DZHU@NEWS-LEADER.COM

Two traffic islands on Sunset Avenue will be populated with native Missouri plants to provide habitats for monarch butterflies, with money from the Missouri Department of Conservation.

Springfield City Council voted 8-0 to accept a grant of $6,200 from the department of conservation at Monday night's meeting. Councilman Tom Prater was absent.

The grant required a match from the city in the form of in-kind services, valued at $9,600. The funds will come from the 1/4-cent Capital Improvement Sales Tax.

Planting native wildflowers on the traffic islands — one located at Sunset and Grant Avenue and the other at Sunset and Fort Avenue — will accomplish several things, according to Director of Public Works Dan Smith.

Smith said it will be easier to maintain the native, naturally drought-resistance plants than the turf grass currently on the islands, which requires weekly mowing.

The wildflowers will also provide an educational opportunity for pedestrians on the trail near the traffic islands and local elementary school students who can use the traffic islands as outdoor classrooms, Smith said. The city plans to install informational signs about the wildflowers.

The grant application to the department of conservation said the city plans to see if people are interested in volunteering to help plant and maintain the wildflowers.

Smith said enhancing the traffic islands with wildflowers is an extension of the South Creek restoration project, which involved tearing out a concrete stream bed.

In 2015, the News-Leader reported the South Creek project cost $1.1 million in construction and $140,000 in design. The city also received a grant of $765,000 from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.

Volunteers spearheaded an effort in 2015 to pluck monarch butterfly eggs and caterpillars from milkweed plants that grew along South Creek to save them from being squashed by heavy machinery.

The city's recent grant request listed 55 native plants that will be planted on the traffic islands along Sunset, including multiple varieties of milkweed, the only source of food for monarch caterpillars.

The population of monarch butterflies has declined significantly over the past two decades. Today, monarchs number less than one-tenth of their population in 1996, when scientists estimated there were 1 billion of the insects.

Springfield Public Works is scheduled to plant wildflowers on the traffic islands over the summer, starting in July.

Lisa Bakerink, executive director of Friends of the Garden, previously told the News-Leader that late September is the monarch butterfly’s peak migration through Missouri, as they fly to wintering grounds in Mexico.

USA Today contributed to this report.