Jim Waite, from Kansas, asks for an update on monarch butterflies.
“If you are looking for subjects for future reports, I would like to suggest one: monarch butterflies. The monarch migration is one of our most incredible biological events. I’m sure you know that monarchs have been having a hard time; their numbers are greatly reduced, and the migration is in danger. Various organizations are working to bring them back, however. If you are interested, Monarch Watch has a good web site.”
Jim, thanks for writing. Since the alarm was raised years ago, I have been more aware of monarchs around our farm, and I’m happy to report they are again fairly common during the summer. I’m hoping our pollinator plot is helping. The milkweed stand there is continually improving. But the answer to your question is good news and bad news.
For those of us in the range of the eastern monarch population, some clear progress is being made on increasing monarch numbers. Here is a graph showing the overwintering area in Mexico where monarch watchers calculate populations. Monarchs migrate to this same area every year. After being as high as 50 acres in 1997, overwintering area has risen from a low of about 3 acres in 2014 to 15 acres in 2019.
The story is different for western monarchs. Here is the range for that group.
Loss of winter habitat seems to be driving western monarch populations to extremely low numbers and possible extinction. There is a helpful report on the Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution website from which I took the western monarch chart.
The major I point I gleaned was protection of the winter habitat is the first priority and preserving and adding habitat along migration routes and summer areas a close second. For those of you considering a pollinator plot, you could be doing more good than just adding wildflowers to your local scenery.
