Monarch butterfly West Coast migration in jeopardy, scientists say

Sigue la ruta que la Mariposa Monarca debe recorrer, desde el norte del continente americano, para llegar a nuestro país, a sus santuarios ubicados en los bosques altos de Michoacán y el Estado de México.

La vida de la mariposa monarca comienza en una planta llamada asclepia, donde los huevecillos son depositados. La historia de la mariposa monarca continúa después de 4 a 12 días, cuando emerge una oruga que se alimenta de la misma planta en la que nació y sobre la que se desarrolla hasta convertirse en un fuerte adulto alado.

How is the decline of monarch butterflies and its relation to the management of corn seen from south of the Mexican border with the U.S.? Recently, we went to the cradle of origin of maize in Oaxaca not to do our own research, but to simply listen to Mexican researchers, farmers, artists and chefs.

Because both the monarch and maize have been iconic symbols of life in Mesoamerica for millennia, we wanted to hear how Mexicans perceived issues surrounding their conservation from scientific, cultural and political perspectives.

As organic fruit farmers, John and I are very appreciative of our farming partners, the native pollinators and honey bees that do extensive work on our farm. We have tried to develop the farm as a holistic ecosystem and take seriously the charge of being stewards of the land during our tenure here.

About seven years ago, we noticed a decline in bumble bee and other native bee populations.

Threats to several of the world’s great animal migrations necessitate a research agenda focused on identifying drivers of their population dynamics. The monarch butterfly is an iconic species whose continental migratory population in eastern North America has been declining precipitously.

Recent analyses have linked the monarch decline to reduced abundance of milkweed host plants in the USA caused by increased use of genetically modified herbicide-resistant crops.

Make Way for Monarchs requests your updates on milkweed seed availability in your region.

According to some garden, nursery and farm journalists, the declines of monarchs created more demand for milkweeds than ever before in American history; and yet, we have no good numbers to document this. Help us explore what’s happening in your community or region by answering one or more of the following questions.

We love butterflies, and monarch butterflies are called “monarch” for a reason. They are grand. All that fluttering orange and black display on a winged scale built to impress. To charm. But monarch butterflies are in trouble.

This year saw the smallest migration ever recorded to their winter retreat in the mountains of Mexico.

The Obama administration is hatching a plan to establish a 1,500-mile butterfly corridor along US Interstate 35 connecting Minnesota and Texas to protect the monarch butterfly.

The majestic North American monarch is well known for both its trademark orange and black stripes as well as its epic annual migration from Canada to Mexico.

This last year, tens of thousands of children across the Midwest watched IMAX film Flight of the Butterflies on the…

Eighteen months after the Tres Amigos (Mexican, U.S., and Canadian leaders) agreed to collaborate one monarch butterfly recovery, we can at least see this vision reaching across borders to take hold at the grass roots level. Thanks to technical and financial support from many agencies, universities and non-profits, August 2015 was the season for hands-on…

Western Michigan University Biological Sciences Professor Stephen Malcolm says the population of the monarch butterfly in North America has dropped over the last 20 years.

Malcolm was among a group of scientists that signed a letter delivered to President Obama, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Right now in Washington and Oregon, 380,000 honeybee hives are at work pollinating cherry, pear, and apple orchards.

Last month, a million hives—three-quarters of the nation’s entire stock of commercial honeybees—were pollinating almonds in the Central Valley of California.

The sixth edition of Michelle Obama’s White House Kitchen Garden, planted on the South Lawn earlier this month, is now a bit more friendly to the insects we rely upon to pollinate our crops.

The First Lady announced the addition of the first-ever “White House Pollinator Garden,” a plot designed to not only assist the more than 70,000 bees that make up the White House…

The western population of monarch butterflies is in steep decline, according to a recent study released by the Xerces Society, having fallen 74 percent in the past two decades, from roughly 1.2 million in 1997 to fewer than 300,000 butterflies in 2015.

Studies have documented the drop in eastern populations over the past several years, but this is the first time we’ve been able to understand the risks to the western population, which resides west of the Rocky Mountains.

In a letter delivered to the White House on Monday, leading monarch scientists, farmers, and educators asked President Obama and the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior to direct five federal agencies, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, Forest Service, Farm Service Agency and Bureau of Land Management, to establish a monarch butterfly recovery initiative to restore habitat for this species on both public and private lands.

Recently there have been a number of articles in the press about how people are planting the wrong kind of milkweed and that it’s actually harming monarch butterflies. Inflammatory headlines have warned about how well intentioned people may actually be “destroying” monarchs and how “the plan to save monarchs” by planting milkweed has “backfired.”

Well, I’m here to tell you that there is no need to freak out. And Please, KEEP PLANTING MILKWEED! Here’s why.