The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service itself estimates that there is a 96-100-percent probability that the population of western monarch butterflies will collapse within 50 years.
–This week, Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara), Rep. Jimmy Panetta, (D-Carmel Valley), and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon) wrote to the Principal Deputy Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service expressing concern with the recent decision to forego listing the monarch butterfly under the Endangered Species Act and urging substantial investments in monarch conservation efforts so this crucial pollinator does not go extinct before protections are in place.
This monarch butterfly faces growing threats from the loss of milkweed and habitat, global climate change, and disease, according to Carbajal’s office. The most recent population count for monarch butterflies shows a 99.9-percent decline in population for monarchs west of the Rocky Mountains, which overwinter in California. Just two decades ago, rou