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--></style></head><body lang="EN-US" link="blue" vlink="purple"><div class="WordSection1"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:10.0pt;line-height:12.65pt"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Hello, </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:10.0pt;line-height:12.65pt;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Please consider signing your <u>organization's</u> name on two letters of support for legislation that will help monarch butterflies and other pollinators at this critical time: The Monarch Action, Recovery, and Conservation of Habitat Act, or MONARCH Act, of 2021 and the Monarch and Pollinator Highway Act of 2021. Both bills will be introduced into Congress this week by Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Representatives Jimmy Panetta and Salud Carbajal of California.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:10.0pt;line-height:12.65pt;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">The MONARCH Act of 2021</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"> authorizes the appropriation of $12.5 million per year for the next five years to a Western Monarch Butterfly Rescue Fund to facilitate the implementation of the Western Monarch Butterfly Conservation Plan prepared by the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. This funding will provide much needed support for projects that restore, enhance, and manage the western monarch’s overwintering and breeding habitats. The migratory western monarch population is nearing collapse, and significant conservation action is needed to avoid losing it. The Xerces Society, Natural Resources Defense Council, Oregon Zoo, San Diego Zoo Global, and Defenders of Wildlife have signed this letter. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:10.0pt;line-height:12.65pt;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">To sign your organization on to the letter of support for the MONARCH Act of 2021, please go </span></b><a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSffnncl-OJC5bvCx0iACn0CflW6n30RdHkVMiZ8q4S0Z00IsA/viewform?vc=0&c=0&w=1&flr=0&gxids=7628" target="_blank"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">here</span></b></a><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:10.0pt;line-height:12.65pt;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSffnncl-OJC5bvCx0iACn0CflW6n30RdHkVMiZ8q4S0Z00IsA/viewform?vc=0&c=0&w=1&flr=0&gxids=7628" target="_blank"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSffnncl-OJC5bvCx0iACn0CflW6n30RdHkVMiZ8q4S0Z00IsA/viewform?vc=0&c=0&w=1&flr=0&gxids=7628</span></a><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:10.0pt;line-height:12.65pt;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:10.0pt;line-height:12.65pt;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">The Monarch and Pollinator Highway Act of 2021 </span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">would provide $5 million per year for the next seven years for grants to benefit pollinators on roadsides and highway rights-of-way, including the planting and seeding of native, locally appropriate grasses and wildflowers, and incorporating the monarch butterfly’s host plant, milkweed. Pollinators are critical to our food supply as well as to the health of ecosystems and with more than 12 million acres of land in roadsides in the U.S. alone, transportation rights-of-way provide a significant, yet often overlooked resource for pollinator conservation. Roadsides can benefit pollinators by providing foraging habitat; places to breed, nest, and overwinter; and may act as corridors, linking patches of fragmented habitat. The Monarch and Pollinator Highway Act of 2021 will help state departments of transportation, Native American tribes, and federal land management agencies make roadsides more pollinator friendly. The Xerces Society, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Oregon Zoo have signed this letter. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:10.0pt;line-height:12.65pt;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">To sign your organization on to the letter of support for the Monarch and Pollinator Highway Act of 2021, please go </span></b><a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfbbsIMpxLv-hgEZVTxfCp-bdW9aSEJotX1MbWqKgRAl8RSlQ/viewform?vc=0&c=0&w=1&flr=0&gxids=7628" target="_blank"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">here</span></b></a><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:10.0pt;line-height:12.65pt;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfbbsIMpxLv-hgEZVTxfCp-bdW9aSEJotX1MbWqKgRAl8RSlQ/viewform?vc=0&c=0&w=1&flr=0&gxids=7628" target="_blank"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfbbsIMpxLv-hgEZVTxfCp-bdW9aSEJotX1MbWqKgRAl8RSlQ/viewform?vc=0&c=0&w=1&flr=0&gxids=7628</span></a><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:10.0pt;line-height:12.65pt;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">I've attached the text of both bills to this email. Please note that we are also circulating a similar letter of support for each of these bills for individual scientists.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:10.0pt;line-height:12.65pt;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Thank you! </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:10.0pt;line-height:12.65pt"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d">----------</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d">Matthew Shepherd</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d">Director of Communications & Outreach</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d">he/him/his</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d"><img border="0" width="160" height="60" id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image001.jpg@01D719B6.059C4A70" alt="Email-Outlook_Xerces-logo-CMYK"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d">Protecting the Life That Sustains Us</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d">Connect @xercessociety on </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/xercessociety/" target="_blank"><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Facebook</span></a><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d">, </span><a href="https://twitter.com/xercessociety" target="_blank"><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Twitter</span></a><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d">, and </span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/xercessociety/" target="_blank"><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Instagram</span></a><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d">.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d">Visit </span><a href="https://xerces.org/" target="_blank"><span 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style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d">Office: (503) 232-6639 x110</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="mailto:matthew.shepherd@xerces.org" target="_blank"><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">matthew.shepherd@xerces.org</span></a><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:10.0pt;line-height:12.65pt"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d"> </span></p></div></body></html>