[Pollinator] New guidance on managing habitat for monarchs in the western US

[Matthew Shepherd]

Hi folks,



The Xerces Society has just released a new guide to managing habitat for
monarchs in the western states. The situation facing monarchs in the
western states is as drastic as that east of the Rockies, but the land
management issues are quite different, hence the need for this report.



*Managing for Monarchs in the West: Best Management Practices for
Conserving the Monarch Butterfly and its Habitat* provides a detailed look
at the conservation and habitat needs for monarchs in the western United
States, including breeding, migrating, and overwintering areas. The
guidelines review the known effects of frequently used land management
practices—grazing, mowing, prescribed fire, and pesticides—on monarchs and
lay out best management practices for how to integrate monarch conservation
in management decisions.



The BMPs are based on a comprehensive review of scientific and technical
literature, supported by extensive conversations with and survey responses
from land managers, biologists, and ranchers.



You can read more about this report in a blog article,  “Managing for
Monarchs in the West: A new guide to protecting the monarch butterfly from
the Pacific to the Rockies.”

https://xerces.org/2018/04/30/managing-for-monarchs-in-the-west-a-new-guide-to-protecting-the-monarch-butterfly-from-the-pacific-to-the-rockies/



The guidelines themselves can be downloaded for free from our website, at
https://xerces.org/managing-monarchs-in-the-west/.



The essential information on timing of habitat management to minimize harm
to monarchs was extracted into a two-page fat sheet that is also available
at that URL.



We will be printing the BMPs, but paper copies won’t be available for a
couple of weeks.



Our thanks go to those who provided funding for this project, in particular
the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, US Forest Service, Bureau of
Land Management, and US Fish and Wildlife Service. Additional support came
from Ceres Trust, CS Fund, The Dudley Foundation, The Edward Gorey
Charitable Trust, Endangered Species Chocolate, LLC, J.Crew, Justin’s,
Madhava Natural Sweeteners, The New-Land Foundation, Inc., San Diego Zoo,
Turner Foundation, Inc., White Pine Fund, and Whole Systems Foundation—as
well as Xerces Society members.



I’d also like to give a shout out to individuals who helped with case
studies or review, including Lora Haller of USFWS, Rose Lehman of USFS,
Beth Waterbury of Idaho DFG, and Cheryl Schultz of WSU–Vancouver.



I’m a bit slow sharing this news—the guidelines were released on Monday—so
sorry if you’ve already read it somewhere else. Thanks!



Matthew
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