We are at that point in environmental efforts where we take what we can get. Any good news should be used to justify the hard work and efforts of those of us who fight the industries hellbent on eradicating the natural environment and those smaller groups of homesteaders who are struggling to breed Monarch (and others) over the summer months in hopes of adding to the populations facing the dangers of a long migration back from the Midwest to Mexico and elsewhere.
According to several reports and one from The Guardian, “The population of monarch butterflies wintering in central Mexico is up 144% over last year, according to new research.
The data was cheered but scientists quickly warned that it does not mean the butterflies that migrate from Canada and the United States are out of danger.
This winter, researchers found the butterflies occupying 14.95 acres (6.05 hectares) of pine and fir forests in the mountains of Michoacán and Mexico states – an increase from 6.12 acres a year ago.
This year’s is the biggest measurement since the 2006-2007 period, said Andrew Rhodes, Mexico’s national commissioner for protected natural areas.”
Monarch breeders and migration observers were worried about the storms and cold weather along the routes through Texas into Mexico, but the population’s increase was cautiously welcomed by many.
Andrew Rhodes, Mexico’s national commissioner for protected natural areas regarded the increase in area of hectares as a positive possibility: “Once in Mexican territory, the butterflies occupied an area that gives us a lot of hope for the future.”
Ryan Norris, an ecology professor from the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, said it would be dangerous to think the improved coverage in their wintering grounds meant the butterflies were out of the woods.
“It buys us time, but that’s the best it does,” said Norris.
Norris saw little connection between this year’s increase and the concerted conservation efforts along the butterflies’ migration route, especially in Mexico where the government, with the help of local communities, has nearly eliminated illegal logging inside the butterflies’ protected area west of Mexico City.
“It was a Goldilocks year this year,” he said. “Not too hot, not too cold, it was perfect.”
Chip Taylor, director of Monarch Watch and an ecology professor at the University of Kansas, echoed that caution.
“It’s not going to be replicated next year, not even close,” Taylor said.
Above average temperatures in Texas next year will cause problems for the monarch production, Taylor said. Last spring, cold temperatures north of Texas kept the butterflies there to lay their eggs, but when it’s warmer they wander farther north too soon and the population does not grow as well, he said.
Sadly, numbers in overwintering areas in California have dropped significantly – likely due to drought or even the late fires in southern California. While scientists and trackers struggle to make sense of the causal factors, the numbers are disheartening. There is an 86% drop in population in the years between 2018 and 2017.
According to an article in The Mercury News, “Typically Monterey County sites support large monarch populations. In 2017, four sites, including Andrew Molera State Park and Pacific Grove, had at least 1,000 butterflies. A private property in Big Sur had almost 20,000, but this number is down to just 800.
“The big trees had fallen with the winds or otherwise. So the butterflies had probably moved to other places,” said Connie Masotti, a docent at the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History, who has been counting monarchs since 2013.
“It’s a very complicated habitat that they are looking for and it doesn’t take much for it to go wrong,” Masotti said.
In the 1980s, nearly 4.5 million monarchs migrated to coastal California to escape cold winters. “We are now down to less than one percent of this historic population,” Pelton said.
What is more worrying is the drop in butterfly numbers below the 30,000 mark. Scientists studying monarch butterflies have predicted that populations below this threshold may not be able to bounce back and continue to migrate.”
“It is a concerning level to have gone down to in a single year,” said Emma Pelton, a monarch conservation expert with the Xerces Society, a non-profit organization in Portland, Oregon that works on the conservation of invertebrates.
There is a general understanding that expansion of agriculture, use of pesticides, loss of native milkweed, and climate change – affecting both wintering and breeding habitat, have contributed to the decline of Western Monarch populations.
But last year was particularly bad weather for monarchs. Unusual winter storms in March made their return journey to breeding sites, west of the Rocky Mountains, more complicated. “They were probably vulnerable after they had left the protection of trees,” Pelton said.
She also speculates loss of large trees to previous or ongoing droughts as a reason for declining monarch numbers. The butterflies use branches of tall trees to roost and for protection against wind.
Monarchs like evergreen trees; the fine leaves give them wind-protection, but also some dappled sunlight. The temperatures must be just right for them – not too cold, otherwise their muscles don’t activate, and if it’s too hot, their stored fat burns too quickly. And they need nectar plants to feed on.
Meanwhile, eastern populations of Monarchs have also demonstrated a significant increase in populations in their overwintering areas in Florida, etc. According to Monarch Butterfly Garden, blogger Tony records more than 200 million Monarchs in the lower east populations.
There’s much to be hopeful for, but there’s still much more to do.
For example, Illinois could follow the lead of Minnesota, which passed legislation to prevent Monsanto and others from using GMO and pesticides which destroy milkweed and other plants beneficial to Monarch. By the way, this does not include the overspray of herbicides and pesticides that are cancer agents for humans.
This article for the Star Tribune in 2017 indicates just how far ahead of Illinois Minnesota was, and how Monsanto and others are likely never to stop creating poisons. “Minnesota is clamping down on a troublesome pesticide developed by Monsanto that brought a cascade of complaints and damaged an estimated 265,000 acres of soybeans in the state this year. Monsanto is pushing back, questioning how the state came up with the tougher standards and warning that they could be counterproductive.
At stake are millions of dollars in potential sales for the new product, both in Minnesota and nationally. Minnesota ranks third in the nation for soybean production after Illinois and Iowa, and the state's crop was valued at $3.6 billion in 2016.
Monsanto developed a new formulation of an old pesticide, called dicamba, to solve a vexing problem: Many weeds have become resistant to Roundup and other popular weed killers, and growers and crop protection businesses are eager to have a replacement.
Call Governor Pritzker’s Office at 217-782-6830 or 217-782-6831.
Tell the new Governor that you respectfully want him to consider making changes like Minnesota and other states to protect not only the unique lives of Monarch butterflies but also the lives of all of us and or progeny.
“Hello, and thank you for taking this call. I am a constituent of Governor Pritzker and reside in this (zip code). I am pleased Governor Pritzker is now leading us toward a more fiscal, economical, and environmentally safe state in our union. I would ask our Governor to strongly consider the efforts of states like Minnesota to ban the use of dangerous pesticides, GMO herbicides, and chemicals that pose an endangerment to all of us as well as the creatures in our environment. Please help us to make this state a place to raise a family with a healthy and environmentally safe future.”
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