U.S. Proposes Listing Monarch Butterflies Under Endangered Species Act To Aid Recovery

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed Tuesday that the monarch butterfly be protected under the Endangered Species Act, an effort that would give the iconic pollinator space to recover after years of declining populations.

“The monarch butterfly is one of the most iconic and cherished creatures in North America,” the agency’s director, Martha Williams, said in a video statement on Tuesday. “It’s hard to imagine a world without monarch butterflies, and I hope we never have to.”

“I wish it was different, but our beloved monarchs are in trouble and they need our help.”

The monarch, a fluttering kite of black and orange, is one of the most recognizable insects in the country and is a beloved natural icon. The butterflies migrate each year from as far away as Canada down to Mexico and coastal California, sometimes traveling in flutters more than 3,000 miles in a season.

But their numbers have been in decline for years. Last year, the number of monarchs seen in overwintering areas in Mexico were the second-lowest on record.

“The fact that a butterfly as widespread and beloved as the monarch is now the face of the extinction crisis is a tri-national distress signal warning us to take better care of the environment that we all share,” Tierra Curry, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement Tuesday. “What’s bad for monarchs is bad for humans, so we have to stop pretending that our health is somehow separate from that of the wildlife our activities are decimating.”

The government will open a public comment period on the designation this week, which would see the monarch listed as a threatened species with specific protections and clear flexibilities. The listing would likely broadly ban the intentional killing or transport of butterflies, although there would likely be carve-outs for accidental kills from vehicles. Small numbers would still be able to be used for education, according to The Associated Press.

Regardless, the fate of the designation will take place under the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump. During his first term, wildlife officials deemed the butterfly eligible for listing under the Endangered Species Act, but they declined to do so at the time, saying other species had taken priority.

Monarchs are threatened by a host of ills, including climate change, the use of pesticides, and declining habitats for native plants, like the milkweed they rely on to thrive. Eastern populations of the butterflies have declined by about 80%, while the western populations have plummeted more than 95% since the 1980s.

Without intervention, officials say the western population of monarch butterflies will have more than a 99% of extinction by 2080.

“Recovery of a listed species is a marathon, not a sprint,” Williams said Tuesday. “While it can take years to bring a protected species back from the brink, it’s a race we’ve won many times, and it’s so worth the fight.”

Part of that effort includes a proposal to protect nearly 4,400 acres of critical habitat for the species in California along the coast stretching north and south around the San Francisco Bay.

The designation, Williams added, would put the monarch butterfly on a path to recovery and afford the creatures some breathing room that has successfully aided other emblematic species.

“We’ve witnessed nature’s resiliency when we just give it a chance to recover,” she said.