It’s Friday, April 10, and monarch butterflies are catching a big break.
Conservationists have long fought for protections for the monarch butterfly, one of the nation’s most iconic and endangered pollinator species. On Wednesday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reached a historic deal to protect the delicate butterflies, which pass through multiple states on their annual two-way migrations and play an important role in protecting the nation’s biodiversity.
The agreement, developed by the agency in partnership with the University of Illinois at Chicago, doesn’t put monarch butterflies on the country’s official endangered species list. Instead, it promotes collaboration between industry and state and federal officials to protect the butterflies and other pollinators. That way, companies and private landowners can participate in monarch habitat conservation and maintenance while continuing to operate in monarch habitats without violating federal law.
That approach might sound suspicious, but it’s succeeded before — most notably with the sage grouse, a particularly good-looking bird that industry and federal stakeholders worked together to protect. (Of course, that was before President Trump took office and blew the whole agreement out of the water.) Already, E&E News reported that more than 45 companies have signed on to the monarch agreement.
In total, up to 26 million acres of private, federal, and state land could ultimately be protected by the pact — as long as all the stakeholders involved actually keep their promises. Tara Cornelisse, a scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity, issued a statement calling on the government to make sure industry follows through on these commitments. But she said the deal is a “step in the right direction.” If all goes according to plan, it looks like monarchs might squeak by on a wing and a prayer.
The Smog
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