A recent proposal to protect the iconic orange-and-black monarch butterfly under the U.S. Endangered Species Act could make federal protections available to help the species avoid extinction and rebound. In a press release, Collin O’Mara, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, an NGO, said the ESA listing is a science-based decision and “a national call to action for all Americans to save this majestic species.” The population of western monarchs (Danaus plexippus), those that live west of the Rocky Mountains, has declined by roughly 95% since the 1980s. They’re particularly vulnerable when the entire population gathers to overwinter in a stretch of forest in California. “The Bureau of Land Management cut down a grove of monarch trees intentionally a couple of months ago to build a parking lot and there was nothing we could do about it,” Tierra Curry, endangered species coordinator with the Center for Biological Diversity, another NGO, told Mongabay by phone. With ESA status, the forest will be protected. Eastern monarchs, famous for their generational migration from Mexico to Canada and back again each year, are down by roughly 80%. Along their migration route, each of four generations of monarchs must navigate monoculture farms in search of nectar and milkweed, the only food a monarch caterpillar can eat. As wildflower meadows are replaced by monocultures of agricultural crops, the search for food has become increasingly difficult, while exposure to deadly pesticides has caused populations to plummet. ESA funding will mean continued programs to plant milkweed, though it…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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