By Jennifer Dorsett
Field Editor
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) recently announced it will leave the monarch butterfly off the endangered species list and will continue to monitor and review its candidacy for listing annually.
“America’s farmers welcome the U.S. Fish and Wildlife decision to continue monitoring the health of the monarch butterfly population,” American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) President Zippy Duvall said.
The monarch butterfly is one of the most recognizable pollinators in North America, with an annual migration that takes the striking orange and black insects from Canada to Mexico.
Texas covers a large portion of the monarch butterfly’s migratory flyway corridor.
Each spring, monarchs leave their overwintering grounds in Mexico and migrate north into Texas, the Great Plains and the Midwest, finally reaching the Great Lakes. By late summer, monarchs have spread up into Canada and eastward from the central migratory corridor to other northeast and southeast states, according to the National Wildlife Federation.
The monarchs reverse the migratory pattern every fall and head south to Mexico for the winter.
Texas is an important state to migrating monarchs because the butterflies come through Texas both in the fall and spring, using one of two well-documented flyways in the state, according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD).
In 2014, FWS received a petition to list the species and published a substantial 90-day finding in December 2014. In 2016, the agency began an in-depth status assessment, looking at the global population, as well as focusing on monarchs in North America, where 90 percent of the world’s population is located.
Now, after a thorough assessment of the monarch butterfly’s status, FWS has found adding the monarch butterfly to the list of threatened and endangered species is “warranted, but precluded.”
The monarch will now be a candidate for listing under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and its status will be reviewed each year until it is no longer a candidate.
“We conducted an intensive, thorough review using a rigorous, transparent science-based process and found that the monarch meets listing criteria under the ESA. However, before we can propose listing, we must focus resources on our higher-priority listing actions,” FWS Director Aurelia Skipwith said. “While this work goes on, we are committed to our ongoing efforts with partners to conserve the monarch and its habitat at the local, regional and national levels. Our conservation goal is to improve monarch populations, and we encourage everyone to join the effort.”
The ESA provides for a warranted but precluded finding when FWS doesn’t have the resources to complete the listing process because the agency must first focus on higher-priority listing rules.
Extreme weather conditions in overwintering and breeding grounds, illegal logging of forests in Mexico and a decline in milkweed and nectar-producing plant availability in the species’ upper Midwestern breeding grounds were all cited by TPWD as threats to the monarch population in TPWD’s 2016 report, the Texas Monarch and Native Pollinator Conservation Plan.
Other groups have pointed to herbicide use by farmers and ranchers as a main culprit in the monarch butterfly’s population decline, although there is a lack of scientific evidence pointing to that conclusion.
“Preserving natural surroundings for America’s wildlife has long been a priority for America’s farmers and ranchers. More than 140 million privately owned farm and ranch acres are enrolled in voluntary conservation programs, providing habitats for countless animals and insects, including the monarch,” Duvall said. “Farm Bureaus across the country have been involved with state and regional planning efforts for the monarch—joining forces with the energy and utility sectors, those who manage natural areas and our urban hubs across the country—to meet ambitious goals for the species. The warranted but precluded decision will give all stakeholders time to continue conservation and research efforts.”
More than half a million acres are currently set aside specifically to provide habitat for bees and butterflies, Duvall added. Farm Bureaus across the nation have played important roles in education and outreach efforts that have increased habitat across monarch flyways.
AFBF is also a member of Farmers for Monarchs, an organization committed to protecting pollinator populations through voluntary habitat restoration and enhancement efforts.
For more information on monarch butterfly population health in Texas, visit TPWD’s monarch butterfly page.
Texas-specific resources at Farmers for Monarchs are available.
FWS has a page dedicated to monarch butterfly information and resources, as well.