Summary
The US Fish and Wildlife Service announced plans to list monarch butterflies as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act by the end of 2025, citing declining populations due to climate change, agricultural expansion, and milkweed loss.
Monarchs have seen dramatic declines, including a 59% decrease in overwintering area in Mexico last year and an 81% drop along California’s coast over 25 years.
Protections would include habitat preservation and limits on land-use changes but allow educational uses and some incidental impacts.
A public comment period is now open.
Plant millkweed in your gardens! Even better have a native garden! Wanna go beyond that? Have a native yard. Monoculture grass is not only boring to look at, it is killing all the beautiful things that used to thrive there.