Monarchs in trouble

Western monarch butterflies spend the winter in more than 300 forested groves along the California coast, including large populations in Riverside and Los Angeles counties, Pacific Grove, Monterey and at Natural Bridges State Beach in Santa Cruz. They can normally be seen from November to March. With the number of butterflies declining rapidly, here are four things governments and the public can do to help:

Protect and manage California overwintering sites.

Restore breeding and migratory habitat in California, particularly habitat along the coast range, foothills and Sacramento Valley.

Stop spraying pesticides and herbicides near milkweed, their primary habitat.

Protect, manage, and restore summer breeding and fall migration habitat outside of California.