[Pollinator] A federal bid to save monarch butterflies

[Sunny Boyd]

http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/A-federal-bid-to-save-monarch-butterflies-6082235.php
A federal bid to save monarch butterflies

San Francisco Chronicle


Published 8:31 pm, Saturday, February 14, 2015

A few million dollars, a federal push and a lot of milkweed is the
collective answer to a sad wildlife reality. The numbers of
orange-and-black monarch butterflies are plunging, and experts have come up
with a rescue plan that hinges on public support and an everyday weed.

In barely 20 years, the numbers of the migrating insect have fallen from 1
billion to just 33 million, according to officials. The startling drop,
which environmentalists have been watching for years, is prompting an
effort to bring back the monarchs.

A sum totaling $3.2 million will be spent on conservation fixes and seeds
for milkweed plant, which the butterflies use as a nursery, food source and
resting spot. Once common, the tufted, colorful plant has been curbed by
farms, pesticides and development along the migration routes in the Midwest
and California coast. One popular monarch layover is a grove on the
Monterey Peninsula where entire tree branches can be coated with resting
monarchs, during seasonal trips to Mexico and back.

The plan is to grow enough milkweed to boost the monarch population, a
major challenge given its enormous loss in just two decades. A first-step
petition to have the butterfly declared an endangered species under federal
law is under review. If successful, that declaration could pose major
problems for construction projects, farming and other human activities.

Limited as it sounds, the seed strategy is worth a try. The U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service
<http://www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=opinion&inlineLink=1&searchindex=gsa&query=%22U.S.+Fish+and+Wildlife+Service%22>
will
team with the nonprofit National Fish and Wildlife Federation
<http://www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=opinion&inlineLink=1&searchindex=gsa&query=%22National+Fish+and+Wildlife+Federation%22>
to
obtain the money. The plan urges “responsible gardening” to bring weekend
dirt diggers into the picture and calls on government agencies to pitch in
as well.

Since the Bay Area is on the monarchs migratory flyway, the plight of the
butterflies should be of prime interest. So should another reminder:
Another butterfly, the Xerces blue, once native to the San Francisco
region, has disappeared, another victim of modern times. It’s a loss that
shouldn’t be repeated.

Sunny Boyd

Web and Communications Manager

Pollinator Partnership

423 Washington Street, 5th Floor

San Francisco, CA 94111

e:  sun at pollinator.org

w: www.pollinator.org

p: 415.362.1137 or 415.335.9786
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