December 30, 2014
Monarch butterfly may make endangered list
Reuters - Monarch butterflies may warrant U.S. Endangered Species Act protection because of farm-related habitat loss blamed for sharp declines in cross-country migrations of the orange-and-black insects, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said. Monarch populations are estimated to have fallen by as much as 90 percent during the past two decades because of destruction of milkweed plants they depend on to lay their eggs and nourish hatching larvae, according to the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation
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The first results of a study on GMO Bt corn I ever read in the early 1990s was how Bt corn killed Monarch butterflies. Currently, Bt Corn is widely planted, and glyphosphate use has increased dramatically.
Add to those insults Monarch Butterfies overwinter in mountain forests in Mexico that have been heavily logged over the past 20 years.
I'm not surprised in the least that monarchs are becoming endangered, they face a multitude of threats. Growing milkweed is one of the simple things that home gardeners can do the help give them a chance.
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