Despite their worldwide popularity, monarch butterflies are rapidly disappearing. A species assessment from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found western monarchs face up to a 99% chance of extinction within the next 60 years.
Jane Breckinridge says monarch butterflies act as a canary in the coal mine with their population decline signaling broader ecological problems. She is the founder and director of Euchee Butterfly Farm, located just outside of Bixby in the unincorporated community of Leonard.
“It’s very easy to doomscroll and feel very helpless and hopeless, but we are truly at a crossroads,” said Breckinridge, a Muscogee (Creek) Nation citizen. “It’s not too late, but that time is not far away.”
In 2013, Breckinridge left her 9-to-5 to return to the land that belonged to her great-grandmother, Neosho Parthenia Brown. The daughter of a Muscogee woman and Euchee chief, Brown received 160 acres in what is now Leonard, Oklahoma, as a tribal allotment after her family had relocated to the area due to the forced removal from ancestral homelands in the southeast U.S.
Breckinridge founded Euchee Butterfly Farm with the mission of empowering Native people economically while raising awareness about the importance of nature conservation. The site at 14024 East 171st St. S. is now a living classroom focused on training tribal citizens to become butterfly farmers.
Breckinridge says she believes butterfly farming, which generates millions of dollars annually, can provide viable employment for underserved Native communities in Oklahoma. It also encourages producers to protect their native grasslands and wildflowers as important nectar sources.
To pass on the skills needed to enter the industry, Euchee Butterfly Farm launched Natives Raising Natives, a program that provides hands-on technical training and supplies to tribal citizens at no cost.
In partnership with seven tribal nations, Euchee Butterfly Farm has helped facilitate the restoration of more than 50 acres of monarch habitat and the replanting of 50,000 locally-sourced milkweed seeds. The farm also established an intertribal seed bank, which has steadily grown to contain over 280 native plant species.
“One of the most profound assertions we can make of our sovereignty is how we treat our land,” Breckinridge said. “To be able to help people with that task, with that calling … we do it because we believe in it.”
However, offering no-cost, community-based programming hasn’t come without its challenges.
“We are looking at losing a lot of our federal funding, as a lot of people are. So, we’ve been trying to think about how we keep things sustainable,” Breckinridge said.
Euchee Butterfly Farm botanist Collin Spriggs, a Cherokee Nation citizen, shows off seeds during a tour of the nonprofit’s seed bank on May 21, 2026. Credit: Tim Landes / Tulsa Flyer 
A monarch butterfly begins life at Euchee Butterfly Farm in Leonard. The nonprofit provides educational tours of its operations. Credit: Tim Landes / Tulsa Flyer 
Monarch butterflies have just emerged from their chrysalises, the process that is called eclosion, on May 21, 2026, in Leonard. Credit: Tim Landes / Tulsa Flyer 
A monarch caterpillar that will soon become a butterfly at Euchee Butterfly Farm as seen during a tour on May 21, 2026. Credit: Tim Landes / Tulsa Flyer 
A zebra longwing butterfly begins life at Euchee Butterfly Farm in Bixby on May 21, 2026. Credit: Tim Landes / Tulsa Flyer
To that end, Euchee Butterfly Farm began producing a rare tropical butterfly from Costa Rica: the Blue Morpho. They have rolled out more public tours, giving visitors the chance to get up-close and personal with thousands of butterflies. Ticketed tours must be scheduled in advance.
Featuring indoor and outdoor aviaries and 12 acres of grasslands, a wedding venue also sits on the 160-acre site. They offer all-inclusive packages for an outdoor wedding starting at $599.
Although there’s still much work needed to save the monarchs, Breckinridge has already witnessed a change in the land since the farm’s founding.
“Not only have the plants come back, but the native butterflies have come back. The native bees have come back. The birds have come back,” she describes. “It’s just been really beautiful to watch that, and you just feel like you’re making a difference.”
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