The Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to list the Monarch butterfly as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, citing loss of habitat to development, logging and use of herbicides.
Since the 1980s, the butterfly’s eastern migratory population has declined by about 80%, while the western migratory population has dropped by more than 95%, “putting the western populations at greater than 99% chance of extinction by 2080,” FWS said in a news release.
Included with the proposed listing is also a proposed rule exempting certain activities from the ESA’s prohibition against species “take.” They include routine agricultural activities; livestock grazing and routine ranching activities; habitat restoration and management activities, such as mowing and haying native rangeland, that sustain monarch butterfly habitat; and fire management actions.
Those activities may remove milkweed and nectar resources within the monarch’s breeding and migratory range, but they don’t convert grassland, shrubland, or forested habitats or significantly reduce the butterfly’s population, FWS said.
“We expect localized removal of milkweed and nectar plants will be outweighed by an overall addition of these resources across the landscape, making broadscale public support for monarch conservation vitally important,” FWS’s proposal said.
The proposal specifically asked for input on how the service should address pesticide use.
“We seek comment on which pesticide uses and application methods result in exposure and adverse effects to monarchs, whether to except take from those uses in a 4(d) rule, and whether the exceptions for those uses should include measures to mitigate the effects of pesticides on monarchs,” FWS said.
The service said herbicides are responsible for widespread eradication of milkweed, on which the monarch lays its eggs, but “the information indicates the negative effects to monarchs from exposure to herbicides and fungicides” are likely minor “compared to the direct effects of exposure to insecticides.”
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Conservation groups applauded the announcement. Defenders of Wildlife called it “long overdue” and the Center for Biological Diversity said if the listing proposal is finalized, “monarchs will gain not only protection from harm but also a comprehensive recovery plan and ongoing funding to restore their habitat.”
Farmers for Monarchs, a collaborative out of the Keystone Policy Center, urged farmers to continue their conservation efforts.
“This threatened listing proposal provides a pathway for collaborative efforts that benefit monarch populations,” said Matt Mulica, senior project director at Keystone. “This is the next step in a process that will take another year to reach a final decision. During this time, we strongly encourage farmers to develop new habitat projects or continue the voluntary monarch conservation initiatives already deployed on their land.”
FWS also proposed designation of about 4,400 acres of overwintering habitat in California as critical habitat for the monarch. The land is located in Alameda, Marin, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz and Ventura counties. Critical habitat designation does not impose requirements on state or private land “unless the action involves federal funding, permits or approvals,” FWS said.
Before severe population reductions, FWS said more than 4.5 million western monarchs “flocked to overwintering grounds in coastal California. In the mid-1990s, an estimated 380 million eastern monarchs made the long-distance journey to overwintering grounds in Mexico, completing one of the longest insect migrations in the world.”
The service was petitioned to list the butterfly in 2014. In 2020, it determined that listing was "warranted, but precluded" by higher priority listing actions.
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