This is a perfect time to spare a thought for the pollinators. Late April and May are the moment on the calendar when they need our help to rebuild their strength: The spring bloom is crucial to the survival of the bees and the butterflies, as they are emerging or returning north and need food immediately.
Have you heard the bad news? Butterflies are in a sad way; their numbers are declining swiftly. A major 2025 study from the United States Geological Survey that combined data from 35 monitoring programs found that total butterfly abundance in the contiguous U.S. fell by 22 percent between 2000 and 2020. This is a large-scale decline across the country. Similarly, a summary of national data from 2025 released by the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation puts the annual rate of loss at about 1.3 percent per year; more than 40 percent of assessed butterfly species dropped by 50 percent or more, with two dozen species down by more than 90 percent in those same decades after the turn of the millennium.
One of the major problems butterflies, including the charismatic monarchs, face is that they are not finding enough to eat along the coastal migration corridor. The butterfly-food famine phenomenon has been recorded in Maryland and New Jersey, and is evidently unfolding on the East End, as well. This migration corridor through the heart of American suburbia has become poor in native flowers and starved of fall-blooming nectar plants, such as goldenrods and asters.
For those who would like to offer a helping hand to the pollinators — and provide tasty fodder for butterflies in particular — there are actions that can be taken. Encourage the goldenrod. Go against the landscaping grain and give up on the pristine, green lawn. Plant milkweed or butterfly weed. (Tip: Call Fort Pond Native Plants in Montauk and ask if they milkweed plants available for May planting. Or, contact the Good Ground Seed Library in Hampton Bays about sourcing seeds for sowing in the fall.)
Earth Day is next Wednesday, and there are various events coming up around town that offer opportunities to join in the rewilding movement. On April 26, an Earth Day concert at the Presbyterian Church in East Hampton by Hilary Gardner and the Lonesome Pines will support the Matthew Lester Pollinator Garden at the East Hampton Farm Museum (tickets, $25, fpceh.org/events). Tuesday morning from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., there will be a spring cleanup at the Matthew Lester Garden, on the corner of Cedar Street and North Main. These healthy and high-spirited communal events offer hope for the bees and butterflies, and are good for the soul of humans who survived the long, hard winter of 2026, too.