RIVERVIEW, Fla. — The International Union for the Conservation of Nature recently categorized monarch butterflies as "endangered" for the first time this week.

But planting milkweed is something anyone can do to help local monarch butterfly populations, according to Tampa Monarch Project Founder Gloria Brooks. 

"Monarch butterflies will only lay their eggs on milkweed," she said. "That's why it's so important for us to plant milkweed. It's being torn down, habitat destruction. We're losing a lot of butterfly habitat."

Brooks is a teacher at Collins Elementary and said she first planted milkweed after learning it would attract monarchs.

"I just bought my first milkweed plant, and boom, I had a caterpillar," she said. "And then, boom, I had a butterfly. Then, I got more, and I kept getting more, and my children were so fascinated by the life cycle.

"When I found out monarchs were possibly going to be placed on the endangered species list, I thought, 'Why? There's things we can do to help this species of butterfly.'"

Brooks' garden is now a registered monarch way station with MonarchWatch.org. She said she started the Facebook group "The Tampa Monarch Project" about three years ago. 

"It's not a business — I'm not a nonprofit or anything like that," Brooks said. "It's really just a way to raise awareness about monarch butterflies."

The page includes how-to videos for people interested in starting their own gardens and photos of Brooks speaking to local groups about the butterflies. According to Brooks, it's important for gardeners to make sure they're planting native milkweed that hasn't been treated by pesticides. 

"Bees sometimes get the big reputation of the important pollinators that we need to save, but butterflies are equally important," she said. "And the fact that butterflies make this incredible migration every year — how can we let a species like that, that is so incredible, just die away? We have to do something."