At Frost Farms, a day of monarch releases brought children face-to-face with a species whose survival depends on places like this one.
Aug 30, 2026
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by ArtWaves.
BAR HARBOR—Captain Scott Monarch fluttered his butterfly wings wide before flittering over to a duo of youngsters and their mom waiting on the gravel drive of Frost Farms on Friday.
They made a circle, behind the trio phone cameras were up and ready.
“Now you close your eyes,” Captain Monarch said, leaning down, knees bent, “and you make a butterfly wish.” There was a pause. “They are most powerful.”
The two children each held a white square that contained a monarch butterfly, ready to be set free. One, feet planted wide on the gravel drive of Frost Farms, closed her eyes.
“When you get down open your eyes and let them out,” Captain Monarch, also known as Scott Martin, told them.
Sometimes the butterflies hurry off. Sometimes they linger. Sometimes they head straight up and towards a tuft of hair before heading into the sky.
Again and again, Captain Monarch showed children how to do it. Beyond him Tony Smith helped people park. Beyond them Blossom in all her flowered gear and others kindly and joyfully helped with the scavenger hunt and face painting and questions.
At Frost Farms Butterfly Day, it was all about the butterflies and celebration, which included a pretty cool scavenger hunt and face painting were free, but it was also about community and the joy of seeing one of the smaller creatures of nature up close and personal, taking flight from a finger or sometimes even from a cheek.
All about hands-on learning, Frost Farm’s first ever scavenger hunt included prizes and refreshments. There were joyful releases and one slightly surprising one as a little visitor was a tiny bit scared once her butterfly flew up above her little blonde head.
Captain Monarch and his assistant Annabelle also showed how to tag and release monarchs.
“We’re so lucky to have Captain Scott Monarch as our resident butterfly expert!” Frost Farms shared on its newsletter and social media.
He’s been tagging, rearing, and tracking monarchs for longer than a decade and because of his efforts Frost Farms is now a registered monarch way station. That means it is officially helping support monarchs along their journeys.
“Everyone can play a role in saving the monarch butterfly,” the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service’s 2025 press release reads. “Because of the species’ general habitat use and wide distribution, all sectors of society have an opportunity to participate in a broad range of conservation efforts throughout the butterfly’s range.”
Six years ago, during President Donald Trump’s first administration, the monarchs were not given protected status and were put on a wait list, given “warranted-but-precluded” status. That means that every year the administration would consider the butterfly’s inclusion.
In December 2024, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Martha Williams said, “The iconic monarch butterfly is cherished across North America, captivating children and adults throughout its fascinating lifecycle. Working together, we can help make this extraordinary species a legacy for our children and generations to come.”
The monarch is one of approximately 30 species that may be protected by addition to the federal threatened species list. It has not been yet.
In the meantime, towns and cities have been pledging to create butterfly habitat and to educate residents. In Trenton, residents have been planting milkweed and nectar-producing flowers on the town land and school land. Others have been planting on their own properties. It’s all about reestablishing the habitat.
Frost Farms isn’t a town or a city. It’s a community and it’s a business that constantly reaches out to help their neighbors and the island become better and healthier and often much more beautiful.
There are podcasts, events at the Town Hill business, but they’ve also been part of Schoodic Institute and Friends of Acadia’s Save Our Summits restoration project.
As Frost Farms says in its newsletter it’s been “lending some muscle” to help “get much-needed soil one step closer to Acadia’s summits!” Those summits have lost soil and vegetation due to foot falls from hikers.
“Thanks to a generous donation from Coast of Maine Organic Products, 100 bags totaling nearly 2,000 pounds of enriched soil needed to be loaded and delivered, and we were happy to play that part in the process!” they explained.
All that soil was hauled up to the summit, 5-20 pounds at a time by volunteers.
In the last three decades, the amount of monarch butterflies has decreased by 80-90 percent. Thirty years ago, one billion would migrate to Mexico each year. Now there’s approximately 50 million, often less, making the annual trip.
However, in the last two years, they’ve been making a comeback after their all time population low.
Monarchs are pollinators, much like bees. They help keep fruit-producing plants from going extinct. And they are food themselves for birds and other small animals.
“Monarchs face habitat loss and fragmentation in the United States and Mexico. For example, over 90 percent of the grassland ecosystems along the eastern monarch’s central migratory flyway corridor have been lost, converted to intensive agriculture or urban development,” according to the National Wildlife Foundation. “Pesticides are also a danger. Herbicides kill both native nectar plants where adult monarchs feed, as well as the milkweed their caterpillars need as host plants. Insecticides kill the monarchs themselves. Climate change alters the timing of migration as well as weather patterns, posing a risk to monarchs during migration and while overwintering. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is currently reviewing the species’ status.”
HOW YOU CAN HELP MONARCHS ANYWHERE YOU LIVE
Some of the best ways to help monarchs is to plant nectar plants, native milkweeds, and eliminate pesticides. There are regional guides available about best native nectar plants and milkweed in different areas.
CREATE A WAY STATION
The U.S Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) suggests converting an apartment balcony or even a small patch of grass into a monarch way station. These way stations help the butterflies find food and shelter.
“Helping monarchs helps the wider ecosystem too. Your small actions can have big impacts on all sorts of pollinators, like native bees, moths, and even other animals like birds. Tending a few potted plants, raised beds, or a bigger space like your backyard, grows your sphere of influence in the natural world and helps to knit together a patchwork of greenways and habitat islands across the built environment. You can be part of something bigger than yourself and join a conservation team that spans North America and more than two decades,” the FWS writes.
AT THAT WAY STATION PLANT MILKWEED
According to the FWS, “Milkweed plays an essential role in the monarch lifecycle. In fact, milkweed leaves are the only food that monarch caterpillars eat. Did you know there are 73 different milkweed species native to the United States? Planting milkweed and other flowers native to your area is the perfect way to create easy to maintain habitat that helps a variety of pollinators.”
So, plant that milkweed in that grass patch or container and help fuel the Monarchs.
ALSO INCLUDE NATIVE FLOWERING PLANTS
In whatever area (or areas) you choose, you can also plant native flowering plants.
THINK ABOUT YOUR TIMING FOR BLOOMING PLANTS
Early spring bloomers that continue all the way through fall really can help the monarchs out. The FWS suggests “asters, blazing stars, and wild bergamot.”
KEEP THEM OUTSIDE
Because of the possibility of unintentionally causing the spread of monarch-harming parasites such as Ophryocystis elektroscirrha, the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service recommends not bringing in monarchs to hatch.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
To find the right milkweed host plants for monarchs and companion nectar plants by zip code.
A pdf file from Rutgers about building better way stations with information on design.
NPR interview with Vann Newkirk, senior editor at The Atlantic.
SUBSCRIBE to Frost Farms YouTube channel
More info + registration here for the next pup-friendly Frost Farms’ involved trail steward hike!
All photos/videos: Carrie Jones/ Shaun Farrar/BHS
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