The Monarch's Fate is in Our Hands

Our monarchs are short-trippers, not long haul travelers

Our Monarch Committee held a meeting last month to discuss plans for supporting the monarch species that we felt by this time should have been declared endangered.  A report from monarch advocacy and scientist groups is below.    While there is little we can do to make the wheels of government turn more quickly, there is much we can do as individuals to protect the monarch in its Florida habitat.  Our efforts last year were only the start.  See what you can do to give pollinators a fighting chance for survival. And thanks to Carolyn for the photo here.

We plan to continue the effort to support monarch waystations at Alpine Groves, Trout Creek, and Saturiwa.  We will be at the Bartram Bash, Saturday, April 23 at Alpine Groves.  And we will have a presence at the Bartram Trail Library the first week in June during National Garden Club Week to raise awareness for the need to support monarchs and all our local pollinators.  Check back with us in mid-April for the date!

National News on the Efforts to Save Our Monarchs

• Just when it was announced that monarch numbers were up

• An unusually severe late-winter storm decimated the monarchs just before they would have begun migrating

• The US Fish and Wildlife service failed to issue its scheduled finding on monarch endangered species status and was served with a lawsuit for their inaction

On February 26, the survey of monarch numbers was announced:  the population has rebounded to 68 percent of its recent 22-average.  While this is encouraging news, the numbers it still represents a decline of 78 percent from the population highs of the mid-1990s.  The species must reach a much larger population size to be resilient to threats posed by its ever-increasing habitat loss and increasing weather anomalies influenced by climate change.  In January, instead of issuing a finding on the status of monarchs under the requirements of the Endangered Species Act, the US Fish and Wildlife  Service  announced that it will provide a total of $3.2 million to support monarch conservation projects.  According to Tierra Curry, Senior Scientist for the Center for Biological Diversity, "... it isn’t even enough to restore 1 percent of the habitat that’s been lost."  --  back  --

The delay in issuing a formal finding regarding the monarchs' status as an endangered species resulted in the filing of a lawsuit on March 10, 2016 by the Center for Biological Diversity and the Center for Food Safety charging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for failure to issue a finding within the required-12-month period . See:  Lawsuit Launched for Endangered Species Act Protection of Monarch Butterflies  --  back  --

As for the encouraging news in February of monarch populations rebounding, the severe weather typical of this year's strong El Niño took its toll shortly after the lawsuit was filed.  See the reports on monarchs and the weather in their wintering grounds in Mexico:

Journey North 3/10:  Monarchs Start to Leave Mexico for the US.

Journey North 3/11:  Strong Storm Hits Monarch Sanctuary

Journey North 3/15:  Monarch News: Impact of Storm in Mexico

Journey North 3/20:  Letter from the El Rosario Sanctuary

Journey North 3/22:  Likely Storm Mortality in Mexico

Journey North 4/7:  Storm Survivors Arrive in Texas on Tattered Wings

It may be more important now than ever to preserve the monarchs in Florida as potential sources to repopulate the mid-west species.  --  back  --

Photo from Letter from Estrela, Journey North

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