Backyards once chock full of fluttering monarchs have become a thing of the past. The western subpopulation of these orange-and-black butterflies has dropped by more than 90% since the 1980’s. The eastern subgroup has dropped by more than 80%.
The task before us is how to bring them back.
We have called on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to “list” the species, which means to officially declare this pollinator as endangered or threatened. To its credit, in December of 2020, the agency said that monarchs deserve protections, but alas, it wouldn’t (yet) act because too many other species are ahead of it in the queue.
Earlier this year, a lawsuit put a tighter timeline on agency action, and the agency said it would take action by the end of fiscal year 2024.
More recently, on July 21, 2022 the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) declared that migratory monarchs are officially “endangered” and on its red list. The IUCN wrote: “The western population is at greatest risk of extinction, having declined by an estimated 99.9%… The larger eastern population also shrunk by 84% from 1996 to 2014.”
Ryan Hagerty/USFWS | Public Domain
Western monarch butterfly cluster
This brings us to the question that we’ve been getting. What does this red list mean for the monarch? Is the butterfly now protected? Will it nudge the Fish and Wildlife Service to act more quickly?
The answer… While the IUCN red list provides powerful new evidence that scientists are extremely concerned about monarchs, the butterfly’s threatened status in the U.S. has not changed.
Still, we’re urging the Fish and Wildlife Service to heed this new report and act swiftly. And we’re continually working to find funding so that threatened and endangered species aren’t stuck in line behind other equally imperiled species.
Forcing threatened species to wait in line for too long can result in extinction before a species sees the light of new protections. That’s beyond foolish. The monarch butterfly is an important species to protect, and we need to do everything we can to ensure its long-term survival.
Senior Director, Conservation America Campaign, Environment America
Steve directs Environment America’s efforts to protect our public lands and waters and the species that depend on them. He led our successful campaign to win full and permanent funding for our nation’s best conservation and recreation program, the Land and Water Conservation Fund. He previously oversaw U.S. PIRG’s public health campaigns. Steve lives in Sacramento, California, with his family, where he enjoys biking and exploring Northern California.
