wildlife authorities USA announced Tuesday that they will expand federal protection to butterflies monarch after years of warnings from environmentalists that populations are declining and the prized pollinator may not survive the climate change.
He Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) plans to add the butterfly to the list of threatened species by the end of next year following an extensive public comment period.
“The iconic monarch butterfly is prized throughout North America, and has captivated children and adults throughout its fascinating life cycle.”FWS Director Martha Williams said in a news release. “Despite its fragility, it is remarkably resilient, like many things in nature when we simply give them a chance. “Science shows that the monarch needs that opportunity, and this listing proposal invites and builds on unprecedented public participation in shaping monarch conservation efforts.”
The Endangered Species Act offers broad protections to species that the FWS lists as endangered or threatened. Under that law, it is illegal to import, export, possess, transport or kill an endangered species. The threatened classification allows exceptions to those protections.
In the case of the monarch, the listing proposal would generally prohibit a person from killing or transporting the butterfly. People and farmers could continue to remove milkweed, a key food source for monarch caterpillars, from their gardens, yards and fields, but they would be prohibited from making changes to the land that make it permanently unusable for the species. Incidental deaths resulting from vehicle crashes would be permitted, people could continue to transport fewer than 250 monarchs, and they could continue to use them for educational purposes.
“We want people to continue raising caterpillars and monarchs in their homes and using them for educational purposes”said Lori Nordstrom, deputy regional director of ecological services for the FWS in the north central region of the country.
The proposal would also designate 1,779 hectares (4,395 acres) in seven coastal California counties where monarchs west of the Rocky Mountains migrate for the winter as critical habitat for the butterfly. The designation would prohibit state agencies from destroying or modifying that habitat. The designation does not prohibit all development, but landowners who need a federal license or permit for a project would have to work with the FWS to mitigate the damage.
The road to obtaining a formal proposal from the FWS, an agency of the Department of the Interior, has been long.
The Center for Biological Diversity asked the FWS in 2014 to list the monarch as a threatened species. The FWS began a review of the butterfly’s status in late 2014, and concluded six years later that the listing was justified, but other species took priority. The center filed a federal lawsuit and won a settlement in 2022 that required the government to decide whether to list the monarchs by September 2024. The government won an extension until December.