Monarch butterfly: Should they be given federal protections?
FILE - A monarch butterfly blends in with the orange color of a Mexican sunflower while it is perched gathering nectar. (Photo by John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES - Monarch butterflies will potentially be listed on the threatened species list by the end of next year.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services announced it will consider extending federal protections to the butterflies after years of warnings from environmentalists that populations are shrinking and the beloved pollinator may not survive climate change.
"The iconic monarch butterfly is cherished across North America, captivating children and adults throughout its fascinating life cycle," U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Dir. Martha Williams said in a news release. "Despite its fragility, it is remarkably resilient, like many things in nature when we just give them a chance."
90 days for public comment
Beginning Thursday, a 90-day public comment period will commence which will then influence the wildlife agency’s decision to either tweak a proposal on how to protect the butterflies, officially declare them as threatened or drop the effort altogether.
The agency will have until December 2025 to make an official decision.
How to leave a public comment
Public comments can be submitted beginning Dec. 12, 2024, and will close on March 12, 2025.
Anyone wishing to participate can do so by visiting regulations.gov and typing FWS-R3-ES-2024-0137 into the search bar available at the top of the website.
How will the butterflies be protected?
The Endangered Species Act affords extensive protections to species the wildlife service lists as endangered or threatened. Under the act, it's illegal to import, export, possess, transport or kill an endangered species. A threatened listing allows for exceptions to those protections.
In the monarch's case, the proposed listing would generally prohibit anyone from killing or transporting the butterfly. People and farmers could continue to remove milkweed, a key food source for monarch caterpillars, from their gardens, backyards and fields, but would be prohibited from making changes to the land that make it permanently unusable for the species.
Incidental kills resulting from vehicle strikes would be allowed, people could continue to transport fewer than 250 monarchs and could continue to use them for educational purposes.
It was also proposed that 4,395 acres in seven coastal California counties should be designated as monarch butterfly habitats for when these animals migrate west for the winter.
The designation would prohibit federal agencies from destroying or modifying that habitat. The designation doesn't prohibit all development, but landowners who need a federal license or permit for a project would have to work with the wildlife service to mitigate damage.
Populations are shrinking
Environmentalists say monarch populations are shrinking because of warmer temperatures brought on by climate change, agricultural expansion and herbicides that have hindered growth of milkweed — the main food source for monarch caterpillars.
The Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), which works globally to conserve migratory animals through treaties and regional agreements, has warned that as the planet warms, milkweed could shift toward the poles to find more conducive growing conditions. That could force monarchs to migrate longer distances, reducing time spent breeding.
Temperature changes brought on by climate change could wreak havoc on monarch migration, too. Warmer temperatures could delay or prevent monarchs' return north, according to the convention.
Kristen Lundh, a biologist with the wildlife service, said that the agency chose to propose listing monarchs as threatened rather than endangered because they're not in immediate danger of becoming extinct across all or a significant portion of their range.
Monarchs west of the Rockies have a 95% chance of becoming extinct by 2080, she said, but most of the U.S. monarch population — 90% — can be found east of the Rockies and that population faces a 57% to 74% probability of extinction by then, she said.