The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agreed Tuesday to make a decision by June 30, 2019 on whether or not to protect the Monarch butterfly under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
Agri-Pulse reports the settlement between the agency and the Center for Biological Diversity and the Center for Food Safety dictates the federal government must propose protection for the Monarch, deny protection or assign it to the “candidate” waiting list for protection by the end of June 2019.
The two groups filed a lawsuit in March to compel the government agency to render a decision. On Tuesday it agreed, according to a settlement filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The two groups had filed a petition in August 2014 for federal protection. After an initial review of the petition, the Fish and Wildlife Service concluded four months later that protection under the Endangered Species Act “may be warranted.”
The groups assert that the Monarch population has declined by 80 percent in the past two decades.