Topeka — The Topeka mayor is joining an effort to raise awareness about the declining number of monarch butterflies.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that Mayor Larry Wolgast has designated August as “Pledge to Help Save the Monarch Butterfly Month.” Wolgast says the National Wildlife Federation contacted him last year as it organized mayors throughout the nation to take the “Mayors’ Monarch Pledge” to aid the species.

He’s urging residents to learn more about the need to protect monarchs. The species passes through Kansas each year as it migrates north and then south through the U.S.

Monarchs have been harmed because there is less of the milkweed they depend upon to nourish them and on which they lay their eggs. Efforts to help the butterflies include creating way stations planted with milkweed.