Monarch Butterfly Count is approaching 30 years of deep agrinews

Madison, Wisconsin (AP) -The number of monarch butterflies who spend winter in the western United States has fallen into its second lowest brand for almost three decades because the habitat and climate change affect loved pollinators.

Here is what to know:

The survey started in 1997

Monarch butterflies, which are known for their distinctive orange-black wings, can be found throughout North America.

Monarchs in the eastern United States spend their winter in Mexico and are counted by the World Wildlife Fund, which has not yet published any data for this year.

Monarchs west of the Rocky Mountains usually hibernate along the California coast.

The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation has counted the western winter population along the California coast, North -Baja -California and Indoor area in California and Arizona for 28 years. The highest number was 1.2 million in 1997.

The organization announced on January 30 that in 2024 it counted only 9,119 monarchs, which decreased in a decline of 96% compared to 233,394 in 2023.

The sum has been the second lowest since the beginning of the survey in 1997. The record low was 1,901 monarchs in 2020.

The survey found that a location of Nature Conservancy in Santa Barbara, in which 33,200 monarchs only organized 198 butterflies this year.

Warmth may have doomed western monarchs to failure

Monarchs on the entire continent are exposed to increasing threats, including among them, the wolf dairy disappear, the host for the caterpillars of insects.

The facility has disappeared before a combination of drought, forest fires, agriculture and urban development, according to the Monarch Joint Venture, a group that works to protect monarchs.

According to the Xerces Society, pesticides have contaminated a large part of the remaining plants.

It is unclear what has caused such a strong drop in the western population in just one year, said Emma Pelton, an endangered species biologist at Xerces Society.

The monarch population is already small, and the three-digit heat in the western countries last year could have slowed the breeding.

Monarchs suffer when the mercury reaches up to 100 degrees and all temperatures above 108 degrees to the insects are fatal, said Pelton.

In July, the western states saw a heat wave that wore the temperatures in some areas well over 100 degrees. Palm Springs, for example, reached a record of 124 degrees on July 5.

Another heat wave cooked Northern California in early October, with several cities break warmer records.

The future of the west monarchy looks cloudy

Pelton said it was too early to see the long -term effects the dramatic losses could have on the entire western monarch population. Insects have the potential for exponential growth, said Pelton.

After the population was triggered at 1,901 butterflies in 2020 the following year, the population recovered to 247,246 insects, which corresponds to an increase of almost 13,000%. In the year after, the survey recorded 335,479 monarchs.

“These are bad news,” said Pelton about the decline of the population of 2024. “But we saw an incredible recovery. This does not mean that we won't have a western monarch. Hopefully it is a wake -up call that a bad year can reset quite considerably. “

Federal civil servants who work on protection

In December 2024, the US fish and wildlife service announced that it worked as threatened at the listing of monarchs, a step that prohibits everyone to kill, transport them or make changes that would make their ownership for the species permanently unusable, e.g. B. for the extermination of all wolf milk waves from the country.

The list would also protect 4,395 ACRES in seven landlords coastal california that serve as a wintering locations for western monarchs.

A public commentary period of the proposal should end in March. Until December, the agency has officially divided the monarchs threatened when the officials decide to move forward.

Earthjustice, an environmental law firm, applied for the environmental protection authority in December 2024 to test pesticide effects on insects such as bees, moths and butterflies.