The recent news of the western monarch butterfly population decline is disheartening. How could we let this iconic orange and black butterfly – numbering over 10 million just a few decades ago – plummet to fewer than 300,000 today?
The 97 percent population decline puts the monarch dangerously close to extinction, and the eastern population is on a similar trajectory. We have to act fast to change the course.
Fortunately, there is a new wildlife solution that taps into the sharing economy to create new habitat for butterflies.
Analysis from the U.S. Geological Survey found that 1.8 billion new milkweed stems are needed to recover the monarch. Monarchs need milkweed to lay their eggs and for their caterpillars to feed on.
The plant has long found a foothold in both native prairie habitats and in disturbed habitats like roadsides, ditches, cemeteries, and even in the middle of cornfields. But the monarch is losing this foothold due largely to the virtual elimination of weeds across the agricultural landscape.
While citizen efforts to plant milkweed in backyard gardens is certainly helpful, it’s not enough. We need to target sizeable investments in projects of scale.
There is a massive untapped reservoir of conservation potential on America’s farms and ranches. It’s time we invest in farmers and ranchers who already manage much of the habitat appropriate for milkweed. They are in a perfect position to restore and enhance this vital habitat.
Restoration efforts are now being designed with these stewarding landowners in mind.
Farmers and ranchers from California to Texas to Missouri now have the opportunity to participate in an emerging program called the Monarch Butterfly Habitat Exchange, which rewards them for restoring and enhancing monarch habitat in field edges, buffer zones, marginal lands and rangelands – areas that would not decrease productivity.
Restoring prairie habitat can actually increase productivity by improving pollination of crops, water filtration and carbon sequestration.
The program was designed by my colleagues at Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) in collaboration with conservation, academic, agricultural and agency stakeholders. It has been compared to an “Airbnb for butterflies” as it effectively crowdsources participation of landowners across the country to make good homes for monarchs along the eastern and western migration routes.
It’s exactly the kind of innovation in science and technology that will help us meet ambitious goals and drive equally ambitious investments in monarch recovery at the scale and pace needed.
There are opportunities for both private and public investment in the Exchange, and both sectors are already stepping up in big ways.
Citizen donors, including EDF members and other concerned individuals, have already contributed more than $70,000 to fund credit projects through the Exchange. It’s inspiring, but not too surprising, since one survey found that U.S. households are willing to pay $4.78–$6.64 billion for monarch conservation efforts. We need this level of public-sector interest and financial support to reach the 1.8 billion milkweed stems goal.
From the private sector, one major food company is lined up to fund a sizeable monarch conservation project this fall, and the opportunity is ripe for other food, chemical and seed companies to invest in monarch recovery and avoid a future listing.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has until June 2019 to determine whether Endangered Species Act protection for the butterfly is warranted, but we can’t wait until then to move toward recovery goals.
We have the tools we need to save the monarch butterfly from extinction. We need the willingness to act and invest.
David Festa is senior vice president of ecosystems programs at Environmental Defense Fund. He is based in San Francisco. He wrote this for The Mercury News.
