Monarch butterflies won’t be protected
Species will have to wait until 2024 to be listed
The federal government has decided against listing the monarch butterfly as either threatened or endangered – at least for now.
Instead, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will next consider the blackand-orange butterfly, once a common sight in backyard gardens, meadows and other landscapes, as a “candidate” for designation as either threatened or endangered in 2024.
The delay is because there are so many other higher-priority species across the nation – 161 to be exact – that are ahead of the monarch, the Fish and Wildlife Service said.
“We conducted an intensive, thorough review using a rigorous, transparent science-based process and found that the monarch meets listing criteria under the Endangered Species Act,” said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service director Aurelia Skipwith, in a statement. “However, before we can propose listing, we must focus resources on our higher-priority listing actions.
“While this work goes on, we are committed to our ongoing efforts with partners to conserve the monarch and its habitat at the local, regional and national levels,” Skipwith said. “Our conservation goal is to improve monarch populations, and we encourage everyone to join the effort.”
Protection under the Endangered Species Act would have required the government to develop and fund a comprehensive, nationwide recovery plan, according to National Geographic.
“The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agrees that monarchs are threatened with extinction,” Sarina Jepsen, director of endangered species at the Xerces Society conservation group, said Tuesday. “However, this decision does not yet provide the protection that monarchs, and especially the western population, so desperately need to recover.”
The Trump administration has rolled back protections for endangered and threatened species in its push for deregulation, even as the United Nations says 1 million species – 1 of every 8 on Earth – face extinction because of climate change, development and other human causes.
Monarchs are known for their phenomenal spring and fall migrations, traveling across the continent to and from wintering sites. In eastern North America, monarchs travel north in the spring, from Mexico to Canada, over two to three successive generations, breeding along the way. Western monarchs continue to occupy and breed in warmer climates throughout the summer.
Scientists estimate the monarch population in the eastern U.S. has fallen about 80% since the mid-1990s, while the drop-off in the western U.S. has been even steeper.
For decades, monarchs in the West have been in decline because of loss of habitat, including destruction of their California overwintering sites and loss of both milkweed for caterpillars and flowering resources to fuel migration, the Xerces Society said. The insects are also impacted by climate change and pesticide use.
“We may be witnessing the collapse of the of the monarch population in the West,” said Jepsen of the Xerces Society.
Tierra Curry, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity, said Tuesday that “47 species have gone extinct waiting for their protection to be finalized. This decision continues the delay in implementing a national recovery plan which monarchs desperately need.
“Monarchs are beautiful, they play important roles in nature and culture, and their migrations are jaw-dropping. We owe them and future generations an all-in commitment to their recovery.”