Earlier this month, federal wildlife officials announced they will add species protections for monarch butterflies, which are dying because of pesticides, habitat loss and climate change.
These iconic black-and-orange pollinators show up in just about every state over the course of a year, including Oregon and Washington. But monarch populations are declining precipitously, so federal regulators are listing them as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
The monarch population is found primarily in Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington, and overwinters on the coast of California.
Courtesy of USFWS Pacific Southwest region
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s proposed rule for the monarch listing generally prohibits killing or transporting the butterflies, but there are exceptions, including some for farmers and when monarchs are struck by vehicles. People can provide their input until March 12.
East versus west
There are two migrating populations of monarchs, but they are genetically the same species. Every year, eastern monarchs migrate from southern Canada and northern U.S. states down to Mexico and back.
Western monarchs, unlike their eastern counterparts, follow an east-west migration route. They primarily overwinter in coastal California, where they rest among tree groves.
“Maybe a few dozen to several thousand butterflies will gather almost like shingles on these tree branches,” said Mace Vaughan, conservation and biodiversity director at the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, a Portland-based international nonprofit.
When spring rolls around, these monarchs break from their winter clusters and spend generations of their lifespans migrating across much of the West. Some travel through eastern Oregon, eastern Washington and Idaho. The windy Cascade Mountains tend to push them eastward, Vaughan said, so they rarely show up in the Willamette Valley.
Even so, Vaughan said people across the region should do what they can to help this struggling species. According to research by the Xerces Society, western monarchs are particularly vulnerable: Their populations have declined by 95% since the 1980s, while eastern migrators have declined by 80%. Scientists say both will likely become extinct by 2080 if something isn’t done.
What you can do
Vaughan has this advice for people who want to help monarchs survive: Avoid insecticides and pesticides, which can harm pollinators and the plants they rely on.
Gardeners can also plant milkweed, the main food source for monarch caterpillars.
“It’s really an all-hands-on-deck effort that’s required right now,” Vaughan said. “We really need to get every plant we can into the ground.”
Milkweed is a thick-stemmed, leafy plant that blooms tufts of pink flowers each spring. Xerces recently received a $300,000 federal grant to distribute pollinator habitat kits to people in the Willamette Valley and Southern Oregon.
Although monarchs might be rare in the valley, these kits will also help other struggling pollinator species, like bees.
For Vaughan, the threatened species listing for monarchs is promising, as it will likely open the door to more funding for habitat conservation. It also offers more flexibility than an endangered species listing, giving different stakeholders — like conservationists, land owners, farmers and local regulators — an opportunity to collaborate.
“We’re all going to be working hard to make the listing something that really is beneficial to everybody,” Vaughan said.
