[Pollinator] Monarch Blitz 2023 Results: Another Successful Year for Community Science

[Isis Howard]

Hi everyone,

The results of the annual International Monarch Monitoring Blitz were
released earlier this month. The Commission for Environmental Cooperation
(CEC) and the Monarch Blitz partner organizations thank everyone who joined
the call to support monarch conservation efforts. Enjoy!

*_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _**Monarch Blitz
2023 Results: Another Successful Year for Community Science in Support of
Monarch Butterfly Conservation*

*Montreal, 11 September 2023*—From 28 July to 6 August 2023, the 7th annual
International Monarch Monitoring Blitz invited community scientists from
across North America to collect data on monarch butterflies and milkweed
plants across the monarch butterfly migratory range. This snapshot of the
monarch breeding population helps scientists better understand how to
protect and conserve one of North America’s most emblematic species.

Over the 10-day period of the 2023 Blitz, 1,789 individuals, across Canada,
Mexico and the United States, monitored more than 40,000 milkweed stems and
reported seeing more than 13,000 monarchs, all stages combined. Data
collected during the Blitz are published in the Trinational Monarch
Knowledge Network <https://naturecounts.ca/nc/tmkn/main.jsp> repository and
are available to anyone to consult and download.

“By taking part in the Monarch Blitz, North Americans bridged science and
community, nurturing a deeper understanding of monarch butterflies and
their summer breeding habitat. This collective effort not only enriched our
scientific knowledge but also fostered a trinational network of
conservationists, leaving a lasting legacy for the protection of monarchs
and a more resilient, interconnected world,” said Isis Howard, Endangered
Species Conservation Biologist with the Xerces Society for Invertebrate
Conservation.

The Blitz provides a unique opportunity for individuals and organizations
to collaborate across international borders to protect this iconic species.
This year, we are proud to announce that PROFAUNA
<https://www.profauna.org.mx/> of Mexico, through its program Correo Real
<https://www.correoreal.mx/>, joined the list of organizations that help to
organize and promote the Blitz across North America.

“The incredible migratory phenomenon of the monarch butterfly reminds us of
the importance of transcending political borders and our cultural
differences to collaborate in the care of life. What we seek with the
Blitz, is to generate scientific information, but also to continue
promoting the emotional bond and socio-ecological identity between people
and the monarch butterfly,” said Jerónimo Chávez, Project Manager of the
Correo Real Program at PROFAUNA.

Additional monarch Blitz partners include the Environment and Climate
Change Canada <https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change.html>,
and the Insectarium | Montréal Space for Life in Canada
<https://www.mission-monarch.org/en>, the National Commission of Protected
Natural Areas (Conanp) <https://www.gob.mx/conanp> in Mexico, and the US
Fish and Wildlife Service <https://www.fws.gov/>, Xerces Society for
Invertebrate Conservation <https://www.xerces.org/>, Journey North
<https://journeynorth.org/about-journey-north>, and the Monarch Joint
Venture <https://monarchjointventure.org/about-us> in the United States.

Participating in an international effort for community science yields many
positive outcomes for monarch education, conservation, and science. Greg
Mitchell, Wildlife Research Scientist for Environment and Climate Change
Canada, shared that his organization “not only participates in the Blitz
because of the monitoring potential it provides for assessing annual
breeding productivity, but also because of its outreach component. The
Blitz provides a gateway for community members to engage with the monarch
and by extension, the natural environment.”

Projects like the Blitz have the potential for great impacts beyond
monarchs. As Julie Jodoin, Director of Montréal Space for Life, explains,
“In placing observation, documentation and understanding of nature at the
center of their approach all at the same time, community-science activities
like the International Monarch Monitoring Blitz are a bridge between a
sense of wonder, knowledge development and the feeling of
contributing—three elements necessary for a paradigm shift. They create
connections between the population and scientists: they generate productive
collaborations. In that sense they are a fantastic tool for protecting the
environment and for preserving biodiversity.”

For more information on this year’s results, visit monarchblitz.org or
follow #MonarchBlitz on social media. Learn more about the participating
community science programs, below:

   - Mission Monarch <https://www.mission-monarch.org/en/> (Canada)
   - Journey North <https://journeynorth.org/> (North America)
   - NaturaLista <https://www.naturalista.mx/> (Mexico)
   - Correo Real Program <https://www.correoreal.mx/> (Mexico)
   - Monarch Larva Monitoring Project
<https://monarchjointventure.org/mlmp> (United
   States)
   - Western Monarch and Milkweed Mapper
   <http://www.monarchmilkweedmapper.org/> (Western United States)

[image: image.png]
*Participation in the 2023 International Monarch Monitoring Blitz*

Take care,
Isis

-- 

Isis Howard *(she/her)*

Endangered Species Conservation Biologist

Western Monarch Community Science

Remote Office: Sacramento, CA

Cell: (503) 212-0546



*Protecting the Life That Sustains Us*

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