ASHLAND — Each fall, hundreds of millions of monarch butterflies migrate from the United States and Canada to mountains in central Mexico where they wait out the winter until conditions favor a return flight in the spring.

The monarch migration is threatened by habitat loss at overwintering grounds in Mexico and throughout breeding areas in the United States and Canada, according to MonarchWatch.org.

That’s why Ashland Community and Technical College is doing its part to become more environmentally friendly and has recently been recognized as a certified Monarch Waystation.

“We are transforming the landscapes here at ACTC to be environmentally friendly, sustainable and low maintenance,” said Paul Seasor, director of maintenance and operations. “We have a long-range plan for the lawn and landscape, which has allowed us to become a Tree Campus USA for four consecutive years, and now we have been recognized as a Monarch Waystation.”

Each Monarch Waystation gives the monarch butterfly an area where they can receive necessary resources.

Many other species of butterflies and bees have also taken advantage of the habitat.

Some of the plants that have been added around campus are butterfly milkweed and common milkweed,

The things we are doing with our landscape areas show that we do more than just talk about being

According to Monarch Watch, anyone can help to create habitats with milkweeds. No effort is too small to have a positive impact.

To find out more about Monarch Waystations, visit www.monarchwatch.org/waystations.