The Monarch Butterfly is one of our most recognizable pollinators and is also one of the most critically impacted by the loss of native habitat. Current estimates claim upwards of 90 percent of the Monarch’s historic population has been lost.
There are numerous reasons why so much attention is being given to Monarchs. To start, they’re truly a phenomenal species that bewilders scientists who try to figure out the annual migration monarchs make from the Oyamel fir forests in central Mexico to Canada and back to Mexico. This journey is shared by four to five generations. Yet somehow, Monarchs are imprinted to end the migration in the same tiny area where it began with their ancestor. These butterflies, which will inhabit and breed on over a billion acres across North America throughout the year, all end up within a tiny 10-acre area in central Mexico. It’s hard to fathom.
Monarchs that overwinter in Mexico head to Texas in early spring to lay eggs and die. North-bound Monarchs all live four to five weeks. But the next generation, the Methuselahs, they leave out of Canada in the fall and fly all the way back to Mexico, often returning to the same exact tree their great-great grandparent left from in the spring.
The Methuselahs are the monarchs that overwinter in Mexico and head to Texas in the spring. They live up to eight or nine months.
Kelly Srigley-Werner with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said, “The monarch butterfly in the past two decades has had a population collapse. There were close to a billion Monarch butterflies 20 years ago wintering on about 45 acres. In the winter of 2013-14, the population had declined to an estimated 33 million, occupying just 1.66 acres. The problems that are happening revolve around habitat loss and climatic issues affecting Monarch wintering grounds in Mexico.”
Monarchs undergo complete metamorphosis. So like all moths and butterflies, they have four parts to their life cycle: egg, caterpillar, pupa, and adult. The process takes about a month to complete. All moth and butterfly species rely on a host plant that is chemically compatible with their species. For monarchs, only milkweeds can serve as a host.
“Milkweed is essential to Monarch butterflies, because it is the only plants females lay their eggs on and the only plants the caterpillars eat before becoming butterflies. There are a number of milkweed species. The ones most prevalently used by monarchs are Swamp Milkweed, Common Milkweed, Butterflyweed, Purple Milkweed and Whorled Milkweed,” Srigley-Werner said.
The agriculture community is aware that through modern farming practices, a lot of native habitat has been lost. They also understand both the intrinsic and aesthetic value of pollinators. Agriculture has recognized they have a role to play, and the role for them is not just one needing to save a butterfly. They have a vested economic interest in insuring the pollinators survive, because without them they can’t do their job.
Soybeans are insect pollinated. So it is in the best self-interest of farmers to be invested in protecting and restoring pollinators. Agriculture is beginning to understand you can’t farm or ranch every acre, and that there may actually be greater profit in leaving certain lands uncultivated.
Numerous programs exist to help private landowners with the expense of creating or restoring pollinator habitat on their land. One of the most well know is the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) administered by the Farm Service Agency of U.S. Department of Agriculture. This program removes land from agriculture production in exchange for yearly rental payments. CRP has difference conservation practices. CP42 is the pollinator conservation practice.
The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) is a much broader voluntary program also administered by the USDA. It provides financial and technical assistance to agricultural producers or private landowners for implementing conservation practices.
Yet, even if you don’t own a big chunk of land. Heck, even if you live in an apartment, anybody can do something for monarchs. Even you just put a couple of flower pots with milkweed and nectar plants on your porch. According to White, if we hope to reach our population goals of at least 500,000 million monarchs it’s going to take at least 1.6 billion milkweed stems. So everyone you plant helps chip away at that number.
We are at a critical time. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is supposed to determine in 2019 whether or not to add the Monarch Butterfly on the Endangered Species List. The agency is currently conducting a species risk assessment to determine if the current population is sustainable or if we are at a point when the population risk is so dire the Monarch must be listed.
See you down the trail…
