Butterflies Benefit When Union Volunteers Get Dirty in Kansas City
by PJ DelHomme
A baker’s dozen worth of volunteers from LIUNA Local 663 put on their mudboots last April to plant native vegetation at the Little Otter Creek Watershed Project, just over an hour’s drive north of Kansas City.
The project includes a 350-acre reservoir that will supply drinking water to Caldwell County residents and provide future fishing opportunities. The other half of the property consists of natural areas with hiking trails, horseback riding, and wildlife habitat, including Pollinator Haven—an 80-acre site with a mix of flowering prairie plants.
On Sunday, April 28, despite a forecast calling for a deluge of rain, union volunteers were welcomed with clear skies, complete with plenty of mud, to plant several hundred plugs of pale purple coneflower and milkweed on a six-acre field that was once covered in corn and soybeans.
“There was good moisture in the ground, and when he went up there later, all those plants really took off,” said Jason Mendenhall, LIUNA Labor 663 president and business manager. He organized the project with help from USA Conservation Programs Manager Sam Phipps.
The area along Interstate 35 that runs north to south is known as the Monarch Butterfly Highway, and the monarchs have been migrating along that path from southern Canada to central Mexico for eons. Common milkweed is especially important for monarchs, and Pollinator Haven sits just east of I-35, says Elsa Gallagher with the Bee and Butterfly Habitat Fund. Having volunteers from LIUNA Local 663 provided much-needed labor to get plants in the ground.
“Everyone was so interested in the butterflies,” Gallagher said. “I knew union members did hardscape projects, but I didn’t know what else they could do. They were excited about being out here. Yeah, it was muddy, but they did something really awesome.” Some volunteers brought their nephews and grandkids. With so much help, the project took just over two hours to complete. The Bee and Butterfly Habitat Fund provided the plants.
Volunteers from Laborers’ Local 663.
Greg Pitchford is a fisheries biologist by trade and currently works with Allstate Consultants, a civil engineering firm. He’s been helping Caldwell County get through the permitting process for Little Otter Creek, and he knows the project well. He says northern Missouri doesn’t have a lot of groundwater resources. Many communities rely on surface water reservoirs for drinking water supplies. The reservoir, which should be completed in spring 2025, will supply drinking water and a chance for anglers to fish bass, bluegill, crappie, channel catfish and other freshwater species.
Pitchford says the planting project is just one of many projects that he hopes union volunteers can help with. “We hope to have a number of trails, a pavilion, and some children’s play features planned for the area,” he says. “My hope is that USA volunteers can come back and help us build those once we secure funding for materials. Having men and women from the union volunteer their time and skills is invaluable.”
LIUNA volunteers are no strangers to hands-on volunteer projects. In February, they hosted a family birdhouse build, where 30 participants ranging from toddlers to grandparents built and took home all 50 birdhouses. Not to be outdone, retired LIUNA members built kestrel nesting boxes for the Missouri Department of Conservation.
LIUNA Local 663 family birdhouse build.
Mendenhall says that the birdhouse build was a great first step to get Local 663 involved in Work Boots on the Ground projects and Laborers Rising, a new LIUNA membership engagement and outreach program. The planting project at Pollinator Haven is building on that momentum.
“There’s still work that needs to be done out there, and plenty of opportunity for other trades to get involved, too,” Mendenhall says. “When you’re talking about union laborers, work is what we do, and we work with our hands. We know what needs to happen and we get it done.”
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