If you were to ask most older adults what was the most common butterfly when they were kids they would, almost to the person, say monarchs. But those days are gone. We do not see nearly as many monarchs these days. You may have missed it, but the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing federal protection for the monarch.
So how, and why, did it come to the point where the monarch butterfly needs protection under the Endangered Species Act?
Monarchs migrate. The western population winters in the eucalyptus groves on the Monterey Peninsula of California. Monarchs east of the Rocky Mountains winter in a small area of the Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico.
Monarchs are heavily dependent on milkweeds. They lay their eggs on milkweeds, and the larvae and adults feed mostly on milkweeds. Milkweeds used to be among the more common weeds in the Midwest where most monarchs are born, but the widespread use of herbicides and other factors have made milkweeds hard to find.
The widespread use of broad-spectrum insecticides is also a contributing factor, as are changes in land use and genetically modified crops.
Plus, even though the monarch’s wintering grounds in Mexico are officially protected, illegal logging and other factors are destroying the habitat. It looks as if a “perfect storm” of factors is making the future of the species quite precarious. Extinction is a real possibility.
Here is a quote from the press release by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service dated December 10, 2024:
“Today, the eastern migratory population is estimated to have declined by approximately 80%. The western migratory population has declined by more than 95% since the 1980s, putting the western populations at greater risk than 99% chance of extinction by 2080. During this same period, the probability of extinction for eastern monarchs ranges from 56 to 74%, according to the Service’s most recent species status assessment.”U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Hopefully the monarchs can get the help they need to recover, so future generations can enjoy watching those iconic orange butterflies dancing in the summer breeze.
