KSHB 41 reporter Marlon Martinez covers Platte and Clay counties in Missouri. Share your story idea with Marlon.
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A garden project at Michael Gunn Park is taking root to support some of nature's smallest and most important pollinators — monarch butterflies.
The KCI Rotary Club, with support from Platte County Parks and Recreation, is building a new monarch butterfly garden designed to give our smallest pollinators a fighting chance.
“We've been working on this for about two years, and we got the opportunity to put it here in Michael Gunn Park," said Gary Warner, KCI Rotary Club member.
The new one-acre garden will be located inside Michael Gunn Park at Platte Meadows, located off Northwest 52nd Street.
Warner said the rotary club has been continuing to push for grants to make this project.
“It's an absolute home run for us," Warner said. "The park with all its natural beauty, the butterfly garden, just fits here.”
The butterfly garden will include new trails to walk through the area and benches for people to sit down and enjoy the butterflies.
Once complete, the space is expected to not only attract butterflies but also continue to add to parks in Platte County.
“We were very happy that the KCI rotary club came forward and is pushing this, and we're happy that they've had the perseverance to keep this going. We're just about ready to basically break ground on this butterfly garden," said Platte County Commissioner Joe Vanover.
The garden was funded by grants provided by Rotary International, the Missouri Department of Conservation and the Platte County Parks and Recreation Department.
“I think it's important for our park system to be something that we can invest money in," Vanover said.
The project is expected to be done by this fall.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is seeking public input on a proposed rule to list the monarch butterfly as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.
Comment period closes on May 19, 2025.
