[Pollinator] CONSERVATION COALITION SUPPORT LETTER for Monarch Act and Monarch and Pollinator Highways Act

[Matthew Shepherd]

Hello,

Please consider signing your *organization's* name on two letters of
support for legislation that will help monarch butterflies and other
pollinators at this critical time: The Monarch Action, Recovery, and
Conservation of Habitat Act, or MONARCH Act, of 2021 and the Monarch and
Pollinator Highway Act of 2021. Both bills will be introduced into Congress
this week by Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Representatives Jimmy
Panetta and Salud Carbajal of California.

*The MONARCH Act of 2021* authorizes the appropriation of $12.5 million per
year for the next five years to a Western Monarch Butterfly Rescue Fund to
facilitate the implementation of the Western Monarch Butterfly Conservation
Plan prepared by the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies.
This funding will provide much needed support for projects that restore,
enhance, and manage the western monarch’s overwintering and breeding
habitats.  The migratory western monarch population is nearing collapse,
and significant conservation action is needed to avoid losing it. The
Xerces Society, Natural Resources Defense Council, Oregon Zoo, San Diego
Zoo Global, and Defenders of Wildlife have signed this letter.

*To sign your organization on to the letter of support for the MONARCH Act
of 2021, please go **here*
<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSffnncl-OJC5bvCx0iACn0CflW6n30RdHkVMiZ8q4S0Z00IsA/viewform?vc=0&c=0&w=1&flr=0&gxids=7628>

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSffnncl-OJC5bvCx0iACn0CflW6n30RdHkVMiZ8q4S0Z00IsA/viewform?vc=0&c=0&w=1&flr=0&gxids=7628



*The Monarch and Pollinator Highway Act of 2021 *would provide $5 million
per year for the next seven years for grants to benefit pollinators on
roadsides and highway rights-of-way, including the planting and seeding of
native, locally appropriate grasses and wildflowers, and incorporating the
monarch butterfly’s host plant, milkweed. Pollinators are critical to our
food supply as well as to the health of ecosystems and with more than 12
million acres of land in roadsides in the U.S. alone, transportation
rights-of-way provide a significant, yet often overlooked resource for
pollinator conservation. Roadsides can benefit pollinators by providing
foraging habitat; places to breed, nest, and overwinter; and may act as
corridors, linking patches of fragmented habitat. The Monarch and
Pollinator Highway Act of 2021 will help state departments of
transportation, Native American tribes, and federal land management
agencies make roadsides more pollinator friendly. The Xerces Society,
Natural Resources Defense Council, and Oregon Zoo have signed this letter.

*To sign your organization on to the letter of support for the Monarch and
Pollinator Highway Act of 2021, please go **here*
<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfbbsIMpxLv-hgEZVTxfCp-bdW9aSEJotX1MbWqKgRAl8RSlQ/viewform?vc=0&c=0&w=1&flr=0&gxids=7628>

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfbbsIMpxLv-hgEZVTxfCp-bdW9aSEJotX1MbWqKgRAl8RSlQ/viewform?vc=0&c=0&w=1&flr=0&gxids=7628

I've attached the text of both bills to this email. Please note that we are
also circulating a similar letter of support for each of these bills for
individual scientists.

Thank you!





----------

Matthew Shepherd

Director of Communications & Outreach

*he/him/his*



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