Description
The North American monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) migration is one of nature⿿s most spectacular natural phenomena. The geographic range of the monarch includes areas in Canada, the U.S., and Mexico. The species occurs in a variety of habitats across the lower 48 states including cities, gardens, farms and rangelands, prairies, meadows, and along roadsides where it searches for milkweed (Asclepias spp.), the monarch caterpillar⿿s only larval food source, and nectar plants. The monarch population has declined to a fraction of its previous size. In the mid-1990s, up to one billion monarchs migrated in the fall from breeding areas in the U.S. and Canada to wintering sites in Mexico. In the winter of 2013⿿2014, estimates from overwintering sites in Mexico indicated a 90% decline from the 20-year average. Drivers of the population decline are numerous, including an extensive loss of breeding and migration habitat. Reasons for habitat loss include urban development and shifts in agricultural practices; land management activities, such as mowing and herbicide applications along roadsides and rights-of-way; use of insecticides; and severe weather events likely related to climate change. In response to the monarch crisis, President Obama, President Peña Nieto of Mexico, and Prime Minister Harper of Canada reached an agreement at the 2014 North American Leaders Summit to ⿿establish a working group to ensure the conservation of the Monarch butterfly, a species that symbolizes our association.⿠On June 20, 2014, President Obama signed a Presidential Memorandum, ⿿Creating a Federal Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators,⿠outlining an expedited agenda to address the devastating declines in honey bees and native pollinators, including the monarch butterfly. The success of both the tri-national and national monarch initiatives requires immediate action and collaborative public-private partnership conservation efforts, unprecedented in geographic scope and magnitude, to restore and enhance monarch habitat across the North American landscape. An ⿿all hands on deck⿠approach is required ⿿ the monarch⿿s central flyway is a geographic priority. Everyone ⿿ federal, state, and local government agencies, NGOs, farmers, ranchers and other large landowners, homeowners, and industry has an important role to play. NWF is one of the oldest and largest conservation organizations in America and has worked to conserve and create wildlife habitat at the community and larger landscape levels for over four decades. Through its membership, state affiliates, school programs, and wildlife gardeners, NWF can make material, large-scale contributions of human energy, decision-making, and on the ground habitat creation for monarchs. In February 2015, the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) aimed at organizing a comprehensive approach to monarch recovery in the U.S. and jointly launched a coordinated Save the Monarch Campaign that resulted in nationwide press coverage and thousands of inquiries to both entities. Over the last two years, NWF has reshaped its habitat program efforts for a greater focus on pollinators and, especially, recovery of the monarch butterfly. NWF expanded its longstanding Certified Wildlife Habitat program under the aegis of a broader Garden for Wildlife initiative that encourages Americans to increase wildlife habitat at their homes, businesses, schools, places of worship and in public spaces in their localities. The Certified Wildlife Habitat program includes more than 200,000 certified wildlife habitats, including 44,000 in the central flyway, that provide native pollinator plants and habitats. Two NWF regional offices in the central flyway, one in Texas and one in the upper Midwest in Michigan, serve as hubs for monarch-recovery outreach and support. Between September 2015 and February 2016, NWF worked with major cities across the central flyway to secure commitments to develop city-wide monarch recovery plans. We have secured commitments from at least eight of them to date. Over that same period, NWF also developed and launched a wildly successful new Mayors⿿ Monarch Pledge Campaign with a companion Monarch Conservation in America⿿s Cities: A Solutions Guide for Municipal Leaders that elicits jurisdiction-wide commitments from local elected officials to take steps to increase monarch habitat. More than 155 jurisdictions across the nation (of which 115 are within the central monarch flyway) took the Mayors Monarch Pledge, including large cities like Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Austin, St. Louis, Kansas City, Des Moines and Oklahoma City. NWF has a number of other specific partnerships that help facilitate this work. As part of its partnership with the Service, and in support of the Federal Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators, NWF played a major role in co-founding and coordinating the activities of the National Pollinator Garden Network, made up of 30 of the leading NGOs in the U.S. to support monarch and pollinator conservation. Co-founders include: American Public Gardens, The Pollinator Partnership, National Gardening Association, National Garden Bureau, American Seed Trade Association, AmericanHort and the Home Seed Garden Association. The Network includes many other committed partners, such as: National Garden Clubs, Inc., Keep America Beautiful, The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, the National Recreation and Park Association, American Horticultural Society, The National Audubon Society, Monarch Joint Venture, Monarch Watch, and The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. The Network also benefits from the expertise of staff from participating federal-agency pollinator initiatives, including those of the National Park Service, US Forest Service, Smithsonian, and others. Apart from the National Pollinator Garden Network, NWF has excellent relationships with the local parks and recreation community through the National Recreation and Park Association and its state affiliates, such as the Texas Recreation and Park Society. NWF currently works with more than 100 local park departments through the NWF Community Wildlife Habitat program. Moreover, as noted above, NWF has agreement from some key mayors and urban park directors who are willing to promote monarch recovery in their own jurisdictions and with colleagues in other communities. The Service and NWF, pursuant to the MOU dated February 9, 2015, will combine efforts to recruit and activate hundreds of cities, counties, towns, school districts, state wildlife agencies, state transportation agencies, and grassroots groups for monarch butterfly recovery and habitat creation in the central monarch flyway. In addition to local coordination and activation, our collaborative activities will support the development of strong state-based monarch conservation plans in cooperation with state agencies, their partners and stakeholders, and the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. Authorizing statues for this program include Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956 and the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act, for the development and implementation of programs for the benefit of fish and wildlife species and their habitat (16 U.S.C. 661 and 742 et seq.), Fish and Wildlife Improvement Act of 1978, as amended (16 U.S.C. 753). Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531-1544, 87 Stat. 884).