[Pollinator] How Obama's 'butterfly highway' paves way to save embattled monarchs

[Matthew Shepherd]

FROM: The Christian Science Monitor

http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2015/0522/How-Obama-s-butterfly-highway-paves-way-to-save-embattled-monarchs


How Obama's 'butterfly highway' paves way to save embattled monarchs



*Eastern populations of the North American monarch have declined by 90
percent over the past 20 years. Conservation biologists hope that the buzz
about the butterfly highway will inspire the public to join efforts to
preserve habitat.*
 By *Noelle Swan*, May 22, 2015



The Obama administration is hatching a plan to establish a 1,500-mile
butterfly corridor along US Interstate 35 connecting Minnesota and Texas to
protect the monarch butterfly.



The majestic North American monarch is well known for both its trademark
orange and black stripes as well as its epic annual migration from Canada
to Mexico. The number of monarchs reaching the wintering grounds in
southern Mexico has declined by 90 percent in the past 20 years. The losses
have been so pronounced that the US Fish and Wildlife Service is
considering listing the iconic butterfly as an endangered species.



The size of monarch populations is measured in the oyamel fir forests,
north of Mexico City, where the butterflies spend the winter swathing trees
in a flutter of orange and black. Over the past few years, the area covered
by monarchs equated to between two and three football fields, just a
fraction of the 15 football fields seen during healthy years.



Weighing just a fraction of a gram each, these delicate creatures need all
the nourishment they can get during their 2,000-mile migration to and from
Mexico. Loss of nectar-producing plants and the milkweed along their
path has contributed heavily to the butterfly’s decline. Without milkweed,
monarch butterflies cannot lay their eggs, and monarch caterpillars lose
their only source of food.



That’s where President Obama’s butterfly corridor comes in.



Interstate-35 bisects the nation along one of the monarchs' natural
migration pathways, making the roadway an ideal location to establish a
so-called butterfly highway, says ecologist Scott Black, executive director
of the nonprofit Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation based in
Portland, Ore.



The Xerces Society has already been working with the Federal Highway
Administration to develop best practices for roadside management, including
incorporation of flowering plants and milkweed and adapting mowing
schedules to migration patterns. Such efforts will undoubtedly be employed
along the I-35 roadside, but the president’s plan is much broader than that.



“The idea is to use it as this iconic pathway to work with schools,
farmers, ranchers, and park districts to improve habitats for 50 to 100
miles on either side of the I-35 corridor,” Black says.



Habitat loss has been particularly prominent in the Midwest since the
development in the 1990s of corn and soybean crops that have been
genetically engineered to be resistant to a popular herbicide, Black says.



“With the advent of “Roundup Ready” – or glyphosate-resistant – corn and
soybeans [farmers] have been able to effectively remove that milkweed from
100 million acres of land,” Black says.



Replacing that lost habitat is likely to become more important as other
stressors relating to climate change bear down on butterfly populations.



So far, there is no direct evidence that climate change has impacted
monarchs, because the link between specific weather variations and climate
change is still somewhat theoretical, Black says. However, there is
evidence that the drought in Texas has impacted sub-populations in recent
years, and climate models suggest that future changes in climate could one
day render the oyamel forests inhospitable.



Developing robust migratory habitats in the United States could make or
break the monarch’s ability to adapt to coming changes, Black says.



“If habitat quality is really good, the monarchs will be able to do the
best they can under whatever circumstances they are faced with,” he says.



“The neat thing about monarch and pollinator conservation is that you can
do it anywhere,” Black says. “You can take a park or a school yard, put in
flowering plants and milkweed, and make sure to keep out herbicides.
Everybody can take action.”



Conservation biologists hope that the buzz about the butterfly highway will
help inspire citizens all over the United States to pitch into ongoing
efforts to support the majestic butterflies, says Eva Lewandowski of the
Monarch Lab at the University of Minnesota in St. Paul. (The US has been
engaged in multinational efforts to preserve monarch migratory and
wintering habitats in the US, Canada, and Mexico for 20 years.)



In addition to planting flowering plants and milkweed, ordinary citizen
scientists also can participate in monitoring efforts.



“The monarchs’ range spreads so far throughout North America that there
just aren’t enough scientists to fully monitor them. We need members of the
public to help,” Ms. Lewandowski says.



Developing a robust picture of where monarchs are and are not thriving can
provide conservationists with important clues about the general health of
ecosystems.



“We think monarchs are really important because where monarchs are, other
insects and species can thrive,” Lewandowski says.



She recommends going to the Monarch Joint Venture website to learn about
how to aid in monitoring and habitat restoration efforts.



“We absolutely believe the average person can make a difference provided
there are enough people out there doing it.”
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