The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wants to list monarch butterflies as threatened, with species-specific protections under the Endangered Species Act.
If monarch butterflies are given such protections, it would be illegal without a permit to import or export them in or out of the U.S., illegal to take them within the U.S., and illegal to possess, sell, carry, deliver, ship or transport them. Killing them would also be illegal.
The primary threats to monarch butterfly populations are the loss of habitats used for breeding and during their migrations, insecticides and the broader effects of climate change. The size of the eastern migrating population of the butterflies has declined by 80% while the western population has dropped by 95% since the 1980s, U.S. FWS said.
If the trend for the western population holds, the group would have almost a 100% chance of extinction by 2080.
The chance of the eastern population going extinct by that point is 56-74%, officials said. The butterflies would be given threatened rather than endangered status because they are not in immediate danger of extinction across most of their range.
About 90% of all monarch butterflies are in the population that lives east of the Rocky Mountains according to the AP.
If the listing is made final, there would be exemptions. Farmers would be allowed to remove milkweed, a vital food source for monarch butterfly caterpillars, incidental kills like hitting them with cars would not be prosecuted, and people would still be allowed to transport less than 250 of the butterflies and use them for educational purposes, according to The Associated Press.
“We want people to continue to raise caterpillars and monarchs in their homes and use them for education,” U.S. FWS Midwest Assistant Regional Director for Ecological Services Lori Nordstrom told the AP.
In addition to legal protections, federal wildlife officials also seek to designate 4,395 acres of wintering habitat in California used by western monarch butterflies as critical, meaning federal agencies would be forbidden from destroying or adversely modifying those areas.
The acreage spans Alameda, Marin, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz and Ventura counties. There would be no restrictions for work on state or private land so long as the work did not require funding, permits or approvals from the federal government.
The FWS proposal will go into the Federal Register on Thursday, and if it is approved following a 90-day public comment period, will go into effect on March 12.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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