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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><img width=468 height=107 id="irc_mi" src="cid:image001.jpg@01CED94D.C2D57000" alt="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UNp45IMnXuY/T2a3RiEOvzI/AAAAAAAAGvI/1ECbvLH6Guk/s1600/VC-Star-Logo1.jpg"><b><span style='font-size:24.0pt;font-family:"Candara","sans-serif";color:#484848'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span style='font-size:24.0pt;font-family:"Candara","sans-serif";color:#484848'>Popularity may be a boon for monarch butterflies<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Candara","sans-serif";color:#484848'>By Cheri Carlson <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Candara","sans-serif";color:#484848'>Sunday, November 3, 2013 <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Candara","sans-serif";color:#484848'>Popularity may not be everything, but for the monarch butterfly, it could help secure its future.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Candara","sans-serif";color:#484848'>In a recent study, researchers asked whether people thought the monarch’s conservation was important and whether they would spend money to help the insect.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Candara","sans-serif";color:#484848'>Of those surveyed, 70 percent considered conserving monarchs important or very important. The study was released last week by Conservation Letters, an online scientific journal. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Candara","sans-serif";color:#484848'>Results also showed that U.S. households may support a larger market for monarch-friendly plants. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Candara","sans-serif";color:#484848'>“We expected we would find lots of support for monarchs, which is what we did see,” said Jay Diffendorfer, the study’s lead author and a research ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Candara","sans-serif";color:#484848'>But the magnitude of that interest and large percentage of those willing to donate were a bit of a surprise.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Candara","sans-serif";color:#484848'>Insects generally have less perceived value than other animals, the study says. For monarchs, however, people supported conservation at levels rivaling many endangered animals. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Candara","sans-serif";color:#484848'>“To us, the study shows that the potential exists for a market-based and incentive-based system that could generate funds for monarch conservation,” Diffendorfer said.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Candara","sans-serif";color:#484848'>That’s good news for conservation groups like The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, based in Portland, Ore. Its work includes research, education and outreach about monarch butterflies. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Candara","sans-serif";color:#484848'>“We have seen that there is strong public support about the conservation of these animals,” said Executive Director Scott Hoffman Black. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Candara","sans-serif";color:#484848'>But the monarch also has a lot working against it, he said. Populations are in steep decline. The drop is blamed on factors including shrinking habitat, such as milkweed plants where monarchs lay eggs to groves of native trees where they spend winter months. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Candara","sans-serif";color:#484848'>The western monarch is found west of the Rockies, to the California coast and as far north as Washington state. During winter months, the orange-and-black butterflies flock to spots near the coast, favoring groves of trees shielded from wind and storms. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Candara","sans-serif";color:#484848'>They show up bunched together and hanging in groves up and down the California coast. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Candara","sans-serif";color:#484848'>During the past 15 years, their numbers have dropped dramatically, an average of 80 percent from 1997, Black said. His group works with scientists at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo to study the western monarch, including an annual Thanksgiving count.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Candara","sans-serif";color:#484848'>In Ventura County, volunteers counted 143,000 monarch butterflies in 1997. Last year, they counted 9,850.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Candara","sans-serif";color:#484848'>Camino Real Park in Ventura has always been one of the most popular spots. The monarchs typically show up in October. Last week, the butterflies could be spotted skipping among the trees.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Candara","sans-serif";color:#484848'>“They’re beautiful. But also just seeing butterflies is kind of magical,” said Marti Dibble, a Ventura resident who regularly walks near the park. She wasn’t surprised by their popularity.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Candara","sans-serif";color:#484848'>“It’s a special thing for our city and our park,” Brenda Christianson said. On a recent walk, the women spotted a few monarchs, but not the numbers they remember from years ago.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Candara","sans-serif";color:#484848'>“When my kids were growing up, they would have field trips here because there were so many. It was beautiful,” Christianson said.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Candara","sans-serif";color:#484848'>The appeal of the monarch depends on the person, said Karen Oberhauser, a University of Minnesota professor and co-author of the report. She has studied monarch butterflies for more than 25 years.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Candara","sans-serif";color:#484848'>The familiarity of the monarch — celebrated in festivals and a frequent sight in science textbooks — helps. They also are beautiful and don’t have the creep factor of some insects, Oberhauser said.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Candara","sans-serif";color:#484848'>“Another big reason: They are just fascinating insects,” Oberhauser said. “The migration is just so unusual and so amazing.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Candara","sans-serif";color:#484848'>Monarchs weigh about as much as a paper clip and travel up to 3,000 miles. They find the same, relatively small sites to spend winter months year after year, despite being several generations removed from the last monarchs to make the trip, she said. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Candara","sans-serif";color:#484848'>“People are just kind of in awe of them,” Oberhauser said.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Candara","sans-serif";color:#484848'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Candara","sans-serif";color:#484848'> © 2013 Scripps Newspaper Group — Online <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>_______<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Scott Hoffman Black<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Executive Director<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'> The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Chair<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'> IUCN Butterfly Specialist Group<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>628 NE Broadway, Suite 200, Portland, OR 97232, USA<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><a href="https://webmail.integra.net/src/compose.php?send_to=sblack%40xerces.org"><span style='color:blue'>sblack@xerces.org</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Tel: (503) 232-6639 ext. 101<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Toll free: 1-855-232-6639 ext. 101<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Cell: (503) 449-3792<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Connect with Xerces:</span><br><b><span style='color:red'><a href="http://www.xerces.org/" target="_blank"><span style='color:red;text-decoration:none'>xerces.org</span></a></span></b><span style='color:#1F497D'> </span><b><span style='color:#17365D'><a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Xerces-Society/193182577358618" target="_blank"><span style='color:#17365D;text-decoration:none'>Facebook</span></a></span></b><span style='color:#1F497D'> </span><b><span style='color:#984806'><a href="http://www.xerces.org/enewsletters/" target="_blank"><span style='color:#984806;text-decoration:none'>E-newsletter</span></a></span></b><span style='color:#1F497D'> </span><b><span style='color:#0070C0'><a href="https://twitter.com/xerces_society" target="_blank"><span style='color:blue;text-decoration:none'>Twitter</span></a></span></b><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation is an international nonprofit organization that protects wildlife through the conservation of invertebrates and their habitat.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>To join the Society, make a contribution, or read about our work, please visit <a href="http://www.xerces.org/"><span style='color:blue'>www.xerces.org</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Buy our best-selling book:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><a href="http://www.xerces.org/announcing-the-publication-of-attracting-native-pollinators/"><span style='color:blue'>Attracting Native Pollinators. Protecting North America’s Bees and Butterflies</span></a></span></i><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>