[Pollinator] Good news for California's monarch buttterflies

[Matthew Shepherd]

On Sunday, October 4, California Governor Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill
559 into Law, which grants the California Department of Fish and Wildlife
the authority to work on monarch butterflies. The Xerces Society provided
information to Assemblywoman Lopez' office at multiple stages in this
process of developing this bill and worked with the California Native Plant
Society and other organizations to support its passage. Assemblywoman
Lopez' press release can be read at
http://asmdc.org/members/a39/news-room/press-releases/monarch-butterflies-to-be-conserved-in-california.




The significant thing about this bill is that it clarifies that the
California state agency charged with wildlife conservation should, in fact,
be working on the conservation of monarch butterflies. This may not seem a
big step, but until now, because of the way that the California state
endangered species act was written with respect to invertebrates, it has
been unclear whether or not California Department of Fish and Wildlife
actually had the authority to work on monarchs. Now they, which allows the
department to invest resources and staff time on monarch conservation.



Matthew



________



*Matthew Shepherd*, Communications Director



*The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation     *Protecting the Life
that Sustains Us



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The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation is an international
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