For the past two decades, the monarch butterfly population has been dropping at an astonishing rate. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife service estimates that the monarch population has dropped by nearly one billion butterflies since 1990 – a 90% decline. Today, only about 35 million butterflies remain – a statistic that has some groups calling for the species’ protection under the Endangered Species Act.
Monarch butterflies are pollinators like bees and therefore play a critical role in ecosystem health. But finding ways to protect monarch butterflies is difficult because of their complex life cycle.
Each spring, monarch butterflies complete an epic, multi-generational, 3,000 mile migration from Mexico to the U.S./Canada border. The migration centers around milkweed. Monarch butterflies lay their eggs on milkweed, which is the only food source for monarch caterpillars. Once they emerge from their cocoons, the new butterflies start the multi-generational migration back to Mexico in the fall.
But some combination of climate change, development, and pesticide and herbicide use has devastated milkweed habitat and thus the monarch butterfly population. To aid the failing species, President Barack Obama has proposed a major infrastructure project: a highway for monarch butterflies.
As part of the “National Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators,” his administration plans to install a “flyway” along Interstate 35, which stretches from Texas to Minnesota. The plan calls for turning federally-owned land along the interstate into milkweed refuges for monarch butterflies, with a goal of increasing their population by 225 million.
But many believe this effort alone won’t be enough to save the species. Scientists are calling for more habitat protection, and a ban on harmful pesticides and herbicides.
Protecting our dwindling pollinator populations must be a priority.
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Obama’s Plan to Save the Monarch Butterflies’ Epic Migration
Photo, posted January 29, 2014, courtesy of Debbie Long via Flickr.
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Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.