I've got a couple good acres of naturally occuring milkweed around my cabin. I make it a point to keep as much of it in place as possible. I did have to mow some out to make appropriate yard and firebreak space. Even after that, I've got ample monarchs on my place all summer long.
My place is a whitetail hunting property above all else. Pond is in the works though too. I run the whole place as a natural ecosystem. Since I've re-established clovers and wild flowers, started managing the timber and have been digging water holes, my bee, butterfly, and moth population has gone through the roof.
I think we overcomplicate this stuff. If we'd just stop most of the things we're doing and add a couple simple improvements, I think nature would heal itself. Whether or not specific inputs kill things doesn't matter. You can leave the actual organism unharmed, but if every single thing that organism depends on is destroyed, well that's just the same thing in my book.
