[Pollinator] Sf Chronicle: Deal provides safety net for monarch butterflies

[Jennifer Tsang]

Deal provides safety net for monarch butterflies


Jill Tucker, Chronicle Staff Writer

Thursday, October 1, 2009

 
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2009/10/01/BAD819V4AJ.D
TL&o=0&type=printable> A radiant monarch butterfly.
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2009/10/01/BAD819V4AJ.D
TL&o=1&type=printable> Trees provide shelter for monarch butterflies on
their lo...

(09-30) 19:28 PDT -- Every autumn, generations of monarch butterflies follow
the sun from eastern Canada to central Mexico, a migratory feat completed on
delicate wings 4 inches wide.

Today, that impressive journey is threatened by excessive logging at its
winter destination in the Sierra Madre Occidental forest - a problem
California, Mexican and environmental officials vowed Wednesday to address
at the Governors' Global Climate Summit 2 in Los Angeles this week.

The California Environmental Protection Agency and its Mexican equivalent,
Natural Resources of the United Mexican States, signed the agreement with
two nonprofit environmental groups.

The pilot project will focus on reforestation and forest management,
including the use of carbon-offset cash to help fund the program, officials
said. 

If a reforestation and maintenance effort in the region results in more
trees growing than being cut down - a carbon surplus - the Mexican
communities would then get revenue from companies and other groups using
more than their share and paying to offset those carbon deficits, said Gary
Gero, president of the Climate Action Reserve.

The cash could pay for the program's trees, labor and maintenance, he said.

"It becomes a little economic development model," Gero said.

It would be one that helps save the orange- and-black butterflies.

In 2002, a severe storm in central Mexico killed an estimated 250 million
monarchs in one night, a massacre experts blamed on the thinned-out forest,
which exposed the butterflies to the elements.

"The state of California strongly believes forest protection and restoration
activities are vital strategies in addressing climate change," Cal EPA
Secretary Linda Adams, who is also chair of the Climate Action Reserve, said
in a statement. "Continued endangerment of the monarch butterfly's winter
habitat in the Sierra Madre Occidental forests creates detrimental impacts
on both sides of the border."

The Ecolife Foundation is also participating in the agreement.

The Sierra Madre forests are the winter home to as many as 750 million
monarch butterflies, but they also provide revenue and fuel for hundreds of
thousands of people.

The trick is balancing the environmental and economic needs, officials said.

"It will be essential to involve the local communities and for the
communities to see the immediate health and quality-of-life benefits for
their families," Bill Toone, director of Ecolife, said in a statement.
"These forests not only serve to support this migratory phenomenon, but
serve as an important watershed for millions of people."


The basics 


Scientific name: Danaus plexippus, which in Greek means sleepy
transformation.

Wingspan: 4 inches

Weight: 0.5 ounce

Life span: Four to five weeks, except for the Methuselah generation, which
is born each autumn and survives up to eight months.

Migration: Southeast Canada through the United States to central Mexico,
traveling about 50 miles per day.

Winter hibernation: Mid-November through mid-February in the Sierra Madre
Occidental forests.

Regional connection: California monarch migration stops include Fremont's
Ardenwood Historic Farm and Santa Cruz's Natural Bridges State Beach.

Source: World Wildlife Fund 

E-mail Jill Tucker at jtucker at sfchronicle.com.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/01/BAD819V4AJ.DTL

This article appeared on page E - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle

 

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