[Pollinator] LA Times -- Editorial: California's monarch butterflies could disappear, unless we act now

[Matthew Shepherd]

FROM: Los Angeles Times

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2021-03-10/monarch-butterfly-protections



*Editorial: California’s monarch butterflies could disappear, unless we act
now*

By THE TIMES EDITORIAL BOARD

MARCH 10, 2021 3 AM PT



It wasn’t so long ago that orange clouds of monarch butterflies would
descend upon the California coast every winter. The western population of
the majestic butterfly migrates from nearby states to spend the cold months
in groves of trees between Marin County and San Diego.



In the 1980s, there were millions of monarch butterflies wintering in
California. Counts in 2018 and 2019 found only around 30,000 monarchs, less
than 1% of the population’s historical size. In November, volunteers
counted just 2,000.



Habitat loss, pesticide use and climate change have whittled down the
monarch butterfly population nationwide, but monarchs west of the Rocky
Mountains have been especially hard hit. There’s a very real possibility
that the western population could disappear. Yet despite the dire
situation, monarch butterflies do not have endangered-species protections.



A Sacramento Superior Court judge ruled last year that insects couldn’t be
protected under California’s Endangered Species Act. The state is appealing
the ruling, but ultimately the Legislature may need to make clear that
butterflies, bumblebees and other insect species are eligible for state
protection.



Conservation groups sought to add monarch butterflies to the federal list
of threatened and endangered species in 2014. In the final months of the
Trump administration, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decided that while
the butterflies meet the criteria for listing, they weren’t a high enough
priority to be listed yet. Essentially, monarchs were waitlisted for full
protection. The Biden administration should reconsider that decision.



How much longer can authorities afford to wait? The Fish and Wildlife
Service’s scientists have estimated that there is a 96% to 100% chance that
the western monarch population will collapse within 50 years. The eastern
population, which is found east of the Rocky Mountains, has also declined
dramatically; there is an 80% chance the eastern population could collapse
in the same period.



The challenges facing monarch butterflies are many, but they are not
insurmountable if there is an ambitious, coordinated effort to protect
them. That means encouraging property owners to plant milkweed, the only
plant monarch caterpillars eat. It also requires limiting the use of
weedkillers that destroy the monarchs’ food supply and insecticides that
threaten pollinators, including butterflies and bees.



California has an even greater responsibility to act. Researchers think the
precipitous drop in the western monarch population is largely due to the
loss and damage of the butterflies’ winter habitat. Coastal communities
must protect the groves of trees that monarchs rely upon. When trees have
to be felled, they should be replaced. Property owners can plant native
flowering plants and milkweed and stop dousing gardens with pesticides.



It’s inexcusable to allow such an iconic species to dwindle before our
eyes. Monarch butterflies deserve immediate protection.



----------

Matthew Shepherd

Director of Communications & Outreach

*he/him/his*



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