Biographical Info

Rachel Taylor is a local business owner, nature lover and active “Citizen Scientist” in the area of monarch butterfly conservation for the past decade. In 2021, she founded Utah “Friends of Monarchs”, a 501c3 nonprofit corporation to be able to accept donations of plants from a partnership she has with the Department of Corrections. Her volunteer efforts continue to grow, doing presentations around the Wasatch Front each spring for groups ranging from Red Butte Garden and the Conservation Garden Park to smaller garden clubs and other organizations. She is currently a board member of Western Monarch Advocates, a group of the seven western states working together to preserve breeding and overwintering habitat for the monarchs. She is also a Monarch Conservation Specialist for Monarch Watch, and a Research Associate for Southwest Monarch Study.

She has collected seeds and grown native milkweed seedlings to give away to anyone who will take and nurture them for years, as milkweed is the only plant monarch caterpillars can eat. No milkweed – no monarchs. Demand far outgrew her capacity and starting in 2019, Rachel partnered with the Nadkarni Lab and Department of Corrections to grow native milkweed seedlings at a greenhouse at one of their youth corrections facilities. She helped to create an eight-week course at the facility around monarchs and milkweed, as well as pollinators, careers in gardening, and other related subjects.

Seedlings are shared with municipalities, other organizations, and individuals who want to add “monarch waystations” to their habitat. Additionally, she shares varieties of native milkweed seeds throughout the state of Utah for free – by word of mouth, or based on the Facebook Group called Friends of Monarchs.

Working with the STEMCAP group has been very rewarding, as she tries to inspire a love of nature in the youth as they work to grow milkweed for her to continue to give away across the Wasatch Front area. For information on monarchs or milkweed in Utah, you can reach her at monarchsinutah@gmail.com.