A decision was reached on Tuesday to extend federal protections to monarch butterflies. After years of decline, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife services plans to add the butterfly species to the threatened species list by the end of 2025 following an extensive public comment period.
The monarch butterfly population is shrinking because of climate change, environmentalists said, so the federal protection will not only create a comprehensive recovery plan, but also provide ongoing funding to restore their habitat.
“The iconic monarch butterfly is cherished across North America, captivating children and adults throughout its fascinating life cycle,” Martha Williams, U.S. Fish and Wildlife service director, said. “Despite its fragility, it is remarkably resilient, like many things in nature when we just give them a chance.”
The protection would “designate 4,395 acres (1,779 hectares) in seven coastal California counties where monarchs west of the Rocky Mountains migrate for winter as critical habitat for the butterfly,” NPR reported. This would in turn prohibit federal agencies from destroying or modifying that habitat and landowners would need a federal license or permit for a proposed project.
“Today’s monarch listing decision is a landmark victory 10 years in the making,” George Kimbrell, legal director at the Center for Food Safety, said. “It is also a damning precedent, revealing the driving role of pesticides and industrial agriculture in the ongoing extinction crisis. But the job isn’t done: Monarchs still face an onslaught of pesticides. The Service must do what science and the law require and promptly finalize protection for monarchs.”
Scientists believe the monarch butterfly’s initial decline was caused by a nationwide loss of milkweed due—a caterpillar’s main food source—to increased use of herbicides on many crops including genetically engineered corn and soybean crops and neonicotinoid insecticides used in farming.
According to the Center for Biological Diversity, “the Endangered Species Act is a powerful tool to prevent extinction and help vulnerable species recover” with a 99 percent effective rate of stopping species from going extinct.
“The fact that a butterfly as widespread and beloved as the monarch is now the face of the extinction crisis is a tri-national distress signal warning us to take better care of the environment that we all share,” Tierra Curry, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity, said. “What’s bad for monarchs is bad for humans, so we have to stop pretending that our health is somehow separate from that of the wildlife our activities are decimating.”
COMMENTS