Monarch Butterfly
With its iconic orange and black markings, the monarch butterfly is one of the most recognizable species in North America. The monarch’s phenomenal transcontinental migration inspires awe among scientists and citizens alike. But over the past two decades, monarch numbers in North America have declined, prompting the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to join state agencies, tribes, other federal agencies and non-government groups to identify threats to the monarch and take steps to conserve monarchs throughout their range. Due to the monarch’s decline, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has completed a status review under the Endangered Species Act.
Monarch Butterfly Surveys And Habitat Assessments
During the permitting process oftentimes agencies will require habitat Assessments and/or species surveys prior to project approval. Reagan Smith’s full-service Wildlife Department is specialized in species surveys, habitat assessments, and biological evaluations. We work with developers to determine best management practices and feasible mitigation measures to aid in the protection of habitat and protected species.
Nationwide Candidate Conservation Agreement on Energy and Transportation Lands
The monarch butterfly Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurance with integrated Candidate Conservation Agreement for energy and transportation lands is a remarkable opportunity to help the monarch and other pollinators. More than 45 energy and transmission companies and state departments of transportation are voluntarily committing time and funding to carry out monarch butterfly-friendly management practices on millions of acres in rights of way. In turn, their actions may preclude the need to list the monarch or could speed recovery if the monarch is listed under the Endangered Species Act. Additionally, the agreement provides participants regulatory assurances that additional conservation measures will not be required if the monarch is protected under the ESA.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has approved an “enhancement of survival” permit application associated with this agreement.
NRCS Monarch Programs
NRCS is working with agricultural producers in the Midwest and southern Great Plains to combat the decline of monarch butterflies by planting milkweed and other nectar-rich plants on private lands. This region, which includes Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas and Wisconsin, is the core of the monarch’s migration route and breeding habitat.
Milkweed not only provides food for monarchs, it also supports other pollinators such as honey bees that are vital to agriculture. Milkweed also provides homes for beneficial insects that control the spread of destructive insects.
Meanwhile, NRCS conservation practices that benefit monarch butterflies and other insects also help reduce erosion, increase soil health, control invasive species, provide quality forage for livestock and make agricultural operations more resilient and productive. NRCS provides technical and financial assistance to implement these practices, helping producers improve working lands and strengthening rural economies.
Monarch Butterfly
One of the most familiar and charismatic insects
The monarch butterfly is one of the most familiar and charismatic insects of North America, renowned for its distinctive migratory phenomena and reliance on milkweed, the monarch’s larval host plant. Once widespread and common throughout its range, populations have undergone significant declines. The western population of monarchs that breeds west of the Rocky Mountains and largely overwinters in coastal California has declined 74% since the late 1990s. The much larger eastern population that breeds east of the Rockies and overwinters in Mexico has declined at a similar rate. (Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. 2019. Western monarch butterfly conservation plan, 2019– 2069. Version 1.0.).
Monarch Butterfly Surveys And Habitat Assessments
During the permitting process oftentimes agencies will require habitat Assessments and/or species surveys prior to project approval. Reagan Smith’s Wildlife Department is specialized in species surveys, habitat assessments, and biological evaluations. We work with developers to determine best management practices and feasible mitigation measures to aid in the protection of habitat and protected species.
Western Monarch Butterfly Conservation Plan
In 2014, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) was petitioned to list the monarch as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA). The USFWS found that the petition contained sufficient information to demonstrate that listing may be warranted and initiated a formal status review to inform their listing decision, anticipated in June 2019. Concurrent with the status review, USFWS and the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies has actively promoted collaborative efforts across state, organizational, and land ownership boundaries to address threats and opportunities facing monarchs and other pollinators. In 2017, the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA) established the Western Monarch Working Group (WMWG) to proactively lead a multistate cooperative agenda for the conservation of the western monarch population. If implemented in a timely manner, WMWG efforts could preclude the need to list the monarch under the ESA. The Western Monarch Butterfly Conservation Plan (hereafter “Plan”), is intended to articulate and attain WAFWA’s vision to identify and promote a shared set of coordinated, ecosystem-based conservation strategies across all partner agencies to achieve the vision of a viable western monarch population. The Plan currently encompasses the states of Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington, which comprise the core of the western monarch range. In contrast to the eastern range, the western range is distinct in containing overwintering, breeding, and migratory habitats comprising the entirety of the monarch’s migratory life cycle. With the exception of the California wintering sites, critical knowledge gaps still exist on the distribution and quality of monarch breeding and migratory habitats and primary threat factors influencing monarch declines in the western landscape. (Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. 2019. Western monarch butterfly conservation plan, 2019– 2069. Version 1.0.)