[Pollinator] Number of monarch butterflies overwintering in California at a 5-year low

[Matthew Shepherd]

Hi everyone,



The number of monarch butterflies overwintering in California is at the
lowest level in five years. This year the Xerces Society’s Western Monarch
Thanksgiving Count tallied less than 200,000 butterflies, the lowest number
since 2012 and confirming a worrying downward trend.



For twenty years, volunteers with the Western Monarch Thanksgiving Count
have visited scores of sites to locate and count the monarchs that migrate
from a region spanning from British Columbia to Arizona to converge on tree
groves along the Pacific coast from Mendocino County to northern Baja
California. The long-term data set from this remarkable volunteer effort is
an immensely valuable resource that enables researchers and
conservationists to address the crisis facing monarchs with accurate
information about the butterfly’s population.



To read more about the latest count:

Press release,
https://xerces.org/2018/02/01/western-monarch-butterflies-continue-to-decline/

Article on our blog,
https://xerces.org/2018/02/01/very-low-numbers-of-monarchs-overwintering-in-california-may-reflect-an-unusual-fall/



If you want to read more about Xerces’ work to understand the western
monarch population and improve management of the all-important
overwintering groves, check out the following links and resources:

Monarch butterflies disappearing from western North America (
https://xerces.org/2017/09/08/monarch-butterflies-disappearing-from-western-north-america/).




Protecting California’s Butterfly Groves. Management Guidelines for Monarch
Butterfly Overwintering Habitat,
https://xerces.org/protecting-californias-butterfly-groves/



State of the Monarch Butterfly Overwintering Sites in California,
https://xerces.org/state-of-the-monarch-butterfly-overwintering-sites-in-california/



Matthew





----------

Matthew Shepherd

Communications Director



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