The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and two conservation groups launched a campaign to save the monarch butterfly that includes restoration and enhancement of 200,000 acres of habitat. The monarch population has declined by 90 percent in recent years. The $2 million campaign will also support more than 750 schoolyard habitats and pollinator gardens. Half the money would come from private sources.
“Many of the projects will focus on the I-35 corridor from Texas to Minnesota, areas that provide important spring and summer breeding habitats in the eastern population’s central flyway,” said the agency. With its gold and black wings, the monarch is one of the best-known butterfly species in the country. Milkweed is a critical food source for the insect and the exclusive host plant for monarch larva. The National Wildlife Federation and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation have partnered with the government on the campaign.
At the end of 2014, Fish and Wildlife said it would conduct a “status review,” which takes about a year, of a request from environmental and anti-GMO groups to list the monarch as an endangered species. “Threats include habitat loss – particularly the loss of milkweed, the monarch caterpillar’s sole food source – and mortality resulting from pesticide use,” said the agency in its announcement.
The Center for Biological Diversity, one of the groups that requested the listing, says the monarch population “has plummeted by more than 90 percent in large part because the heavy application of the weed killer glyphosate…on genetically modified corn and soybeans has contributed to the decline of milkweed plants.” The lion’s share of U.S. corn and soybean plantings are GMO seeds that tolerate spraying with glyphosate.
The government set up a “Save the monarch butterfly” website as part of the campaign announced on Monday.