The monarch butterfly is one of North America's most recognizable and iconic species. Known for their awe inspiring long-distance migration and summer presence in our gardens, this marvelous species exists wherever suitable feeding, breeding, and overwintering habitat exists. But the number of monarchs in the west have dropped so low they are near extinction, while those in the east also face a high likelihood of going extinct in the next 50 years.
Now, after decades of advocacy and mountains of scientific evidence, the Fish and Wildlife Service has finally proposed listing the monarch butterfly as 'threatened' under the Endangered Species Act. Send in a comment telling the agency to finalize strong federal protections for monarchs under the Endangered Species Act!
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More information: this action alert will deliver your message directly to the Fish and Wildlife Service. The comment period ends on May 19, 2025. We strongly encourage making your comment your own by editing the message directly in the box! Feel free to use the below prompts and talking points (note that there is a character limit of 4,000 characters).
PROMPTS:
- Why are monarch butterflies important to you? Do you have a special connection to them? Do they remind you of a loved one?
- Do you interact with monarchs at any point in the year? (For example, do you have milkweed on your property where they lay their eggs?)
TALKING POINTS:
- It is critical that increased protections for monarchs include safeguards that limit use of pesticides, especially insecticides that are particularly harmful to pollinators.
- The Endangered Species Act listing should protect monarchs from commercial sale because mass-reared monarchs threaten the health of wild populations.
- The listing should identify measures to prevent the import of avocados grown on illegally deforested lands in monarchs’ winter habitat.
- Monarchs also need a comprehensive recovery plan, conservation funding, and critical habitat designation.
- I support the proposal to protect their overwintering habitat in California. For the eastern population the FWS should include federal public lands in the critical habitat designation to protect monarchs’ historic flyways.
- FWS should work with states and other federal agencies to ensure monarchs can recover along all their migration paths. This will help guide best practices for land development to prevent monarch habitat loss.
- With this action, appropriate limits should be placed on harms to monarchs, including excessive pollution, the poisoning of air and drinking water, and the destruction of their habitat.