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--></style></head><body lang="EN-US" link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class="WordSection1"><p class="MsoNormal">We were hoping for better news to share about the state of the monarch population gathered in California to overwinter, but the early numbers from the Western Monarch Thanksgiving Count don’t paint a good picture. With 74 sites reported -- over 30% of the anticipated data -- only 1,224 monarchs have been counted. If this reflects monitoring at the rest of the sites, we may see fewer than 10,000 monarchs overwintering in California this year. This is a significant decline from the low numbers of the last two years where the total hovered just under 30,000 monarchs. These numbers are a tiny fraction of the millions of monarchs that likely visited overwintering sites in the 1980s and the hundreds of thousands of monarchs that graced California’s coast as recently as the mid-2010s.</p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal">For more information, read our blog:</p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://xerces.org/blog/monarch-population-in-california-spirals-to-another-record-low">https://xerces.org/blog/monarch-population-in-california-spirals-to-another-record-low</a></p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal">Of course, this doesn’t give any indication of the state of the eastern monarchs that overwinter in Mexico. We won’t know how well that population is doing until WWF-Mexico releases data early next year.</p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal">Matthew</p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">----------</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">Matthew Shepherd</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">Director of Communications & Outreach</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size:10.0pt">he/him/his</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><img border="0" width="160" height="60" id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image001.jpg@01D6C713.3CC444D0" alt="Email-Outlook_Xerces-logo-CMYK"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">Protecting the Life That Sustains Us</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">Connect with us @xercessociety on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/xercessociety/" target="_blank"><span style="color:blue">Facebook</span></a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/xercessociety" target="_blank"><span style="color:blue">Twitter</span></a>, and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/xercessociety/?hl=en" target="_blank"><span style="color:blue">Instagram</span></a>.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">Visit <a href="https://xerces.org/" target="_blank"><span style="color:blue">xerces.org</span></a> to read our <a href="https://xerces.org/blog" target="_blank"><span style="color:blue">blog</span></a>, sign up for our <a href="https://visitor.r20.constantcontact.com/manage/optin?v=001HTk7N6nZumLPinBr8VACbNdTXCe732bGu6KpqC13JAKPti_HBe5xyr7t0p4mDfKe2dOsd-TB1qvv772s6GQfVa_SbKKfwBiwl4blH4KvCjq4dpmA2M9UNZ2axlQwu_1Gvjrl2Rb53WUZwsddwCzyorgxedLAaMy3" target="_blank"><span style="color:blue">e-newsletter</span></a>, and find out how you can protect invertebrates.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">Watch us on </span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#1f497d"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAiPLPJuySOgn6CbjkOxqLQ"><span style="color:blue">YouTube</span></a>.</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">Support our work: <a href="https://xerces.org/donate/"><span style="color:blue">Donate</span></a>!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">628 NE Broadway, Suite 200, Portland, OR 97232, USA</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">Cell: (503) 807-1577</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">Office: (503) 232-6639 x110</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><a href="mailto:matthew.shepherd@xerces.org" target="_blank"><span style="color:blue">matthew.shepherd@xerces.org</span></a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p></div></body></html>