Monarch butterflies, which once migrated in the tens of thousands to Pacific Grove, have fallen to 228 in the latest count in early December.
Advocates welcomed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s announcement Tuesday recommending that monarchs be protected under the Endangered Species Act.
Thousands of monarchs have historically overwintered in Pacific Grove in Monterey County. They are so much a part of the community’s identity that the butterfly is pictured on the city seal.
“Accounts in Pacific Grove as late as the 1990s showed 45,000 monarchs, which we do not see today,” Natalie Johnston of the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History said in a press release.
The museum has been conducting weekly counts during the monarch season – mid-October through mid-February – in the Pacific Grove Monarch Sanctuary since 2012. In 2022, the highest census was over 15,000.
In coastal California, monarch populations have fallen to less than 5% of their historic numbers, the museum said.
Monarchs have been protected in Pacific Grove since the1930s and California since 2021. If listed as threatened, they would prompt more funding for habitat conservation and research to bring the species back from decline, according to the museum.
In Pacific Grove, the monarch sanctuary and other areas would likely be given Critical Habitat designation, which would help preserve the space for generations of monarchs and people to come, the museum said.
According to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services, “As the premiere conservation agency in the United States, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has the responsibility to ensure that the monarch migration phenomenon continues … We’re “all in” on monarch conservation. And we can’t do it alone. We’re focused on increasing monarch habitat on the lands we manage and engaging with all partners on monarch conservation, including Tribes, state and federal agencies and conservation groups.”
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