Big River Resources uses extra acreage at the West Burlington facility for a butterfly habitat – Burlington Hawk Eye

John Gaines|The Hawk Eye

There is more fuel than just ethanol fuel being made at Big River Resources in West Burlington.

In 2018, the company began a project to create acreage by the facility at 15210 103rd St. into a Monarch Fueling Station. The work has been completed and this fall butterflies were beginning to stop at the open space.

Its a reflection on what ethanol companies are all about, Big River Resources environmental compliance coordinator Ryan Janson told The Hawk Eye in May of 2018. Were taking care of our environment.

The project initiallywas proposed as a 1.8 acre site but was expanded to 5 acres. The area has been planted with a mix of flowers, prairie plants and milkweed. Its a pollinationmix called 10-40.

Its got a mixture of flowers for butterflies and bees and milkweed for the monarch butterflies, Janson said. "We had Des Moines County Conservation come out and help seed the land."

Janson said Iowa Iowa Renewable Fuels Association came up with idea and pitched the project across Iowa. Big River Resourcesalso has created a monarch station at the plant in Dyersville.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service played a role in the project helping fund the spraying and seeding. The group also is in the final stages to have monarch butterflies listed as endangered species. Plans are in place to complete this work in December.

Due to wet conditions in 2018 the project was delayed. It wasnt until the spring and summer of 2019 the plot wasplanted.

The property was first sprayed to kill offovergrowth and provide a clean slate for planting of the proper species of flora.

The plot was just short grass and we kept it mowed, Janson said. We had to spray and knock down what was there in 2019.

The work on preparing the land was done with the help of Land and Water Vegetation Control out of Wever.

This is the first year (2020) that it came up, said Janson.We are letting it do its thing now.

And as shown in the photos the butterflies are beginning to use this resource as fuel to perpetuate their species.

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Big River Resources uses extra acreage at the West Burlington facility for a butterfly habitat - Burlington Hawk Eye