Given the great numbers of monarchs (up to 100 million) that gather to migrate each fall, it is hard to imagine them facing any threat of extinction. In reality, however, monarchs and their amazing annual migration are seriously threatened by human activities, in both their summer and overwintering sites. Many of these threatening activities hinge on the destruction of good monarch habitats.

In the north (the United States and Canada), monarchs face direct habitat destruction caused by humans. New roads, housing developments, and agricultural expansion - all transform a natural landscape in ways that make it impossible for Monarchs to live there. Monarchs in the north also face more subtle habitat destruction in the loss of their host plants. Milkweed, the plant larvae feed on exclusively, is considered a noxious weed by some people, which means it is often destroyed. In some areas across North America, milkweed plants are also being severely damaged by ozone. Both milkweed and adult nectaring plants are also vulnerable to the herbicides used by many landscapers, farmers, gardeners, and others. And monarchs themselves can be killed outright by many pesticides.

Monarch populations are even more vulnerable in their overwintering sites. The sites have very particular environmental characteristics, and they are threatened by human activities in both Mexico and California. In California, monarchs aggregate in more than 25 roosting sites along the California coast each winter. In the coastal forests, monarchs find forests with all the right characteristics for overwintering. Many people, however, would also like to live along the California coast, which raises property values and increases the pressure to build, remove trees, and otherwise develop the land. With this in mind, conservationists created the Monarch Project in 1984. The Monarch Project works to protect California overwintering sites, most often through conservation easements of land. In a conservation easement, landowners set aside a portion of their land permanently as protected Monarch habitat. Often, conservation easements come about due to the collaborative efforts of the Monarch Project, government officials, land trusts, parks, public agencies, scientists, developers, and conservationists. In 1988, Californians gave this process a boost when they passed a bond for $2 million to buy monarch sites. The Monarch Project has also worked to include information about monarch sites in zoning laws and land-use plans, especially in areas such as Pacific Grove and Santa Cruz where large aggregations gather each year. Although there has been some progress towards protecting Monarch overwintering sites in California, high property values and the resulting pressure to develop land along the coast continue to threaten Monarch habitat.

Eastern monarchs migrate only to the Transvolcanic Mountains in Mexico, where there are only eleven to fourteen known sites each year. Each site is a few hectares in size and contains millions of monarch butterflies. This combination - a high concentration of individuals in a only few small sites - makes the possibility of habitat destruction in Mexico very serious. This is particularly true because the oyamel trees, on which the monarchs cluster, are valuable lumber sources that many local people - the ejidatarios who own the land - depend upon for income. Logging not only removes roost trees, but also opens up the forest canopy. These gaps are like holes in your winter coat, as far as the monarchs are concerned. They let in snow and rain, and the roosting monarchs are more vulnerable to freezing. In December 1995, scientists estimate that 5 to7 million monarchs died after a snowstorm hit the overwintering sites. A snowstorm in 1992 killed a similar number. Five sites are protected from logging by a government decree, but lumber is still removed from buffer zones around these sites. Although it's important, logging isn't the only cause of habitat destruction near the overwintering roosts. As local human populations grow near these sites, ejidatarios also use the lumber for building materials and the cleared land for growing food and grazing cattle. If the roost sites are destroyed through these activities, monarch populations are likely to drop precipitously.

Although many people in Mexico and around the world want to preserve these sites to protect the monarchs they harbor each year, conservation efforts have not been completely successful. In the five to ten years after the roosts were discovered, people were fairly optimistic about the possibility of protecting the sites. Conservation organizations, in particular the Mexican group Monarca, A.C., worked with governmental agencies and local people to establish land protection, sponsor research, initiate education about monarch conservation, and enhance alternative economic development in the region. Despite the establishment of five sanctuaries in 1985 and the opening of tourist trade, these efforts have not yet assured the continued survival of the overwintering monarch population. The crux of the problem lies in economics. Lumbering is lucrative, and continues today even in protected areas. And the creation of alternative jobs has not progressed. In some areas, for example near El Rosario sanctuary outside the town of Angangueo, tourism does provide some economic support; the ejidatarios charge visitors for transportation up the mountain, sell food at roadside stands, and earn money from souvenir sales and guided tours. Tourism, however, does not bring in nearly as much money as lumbering and is not shared among all ejidatarios.

Some people have suggested that conservation organizations should lease the trees from the ejidatarios so that there is similar financial compensation for protecting a living tree as cutting it down. Others argue organizations and the government should buy the land outright from the ejidatarios, an option now possible under Mexican law. Others suggest fostering new industries such as fish-farming, honey production, or even shiitake mushroom cultivation. In any case, it is clear that economics are essential. Action must be taken soon if the monarchs are to survive the 21st century, but it will require creativity, hard work, and compassion for both the butterflies and their human neighbors.

HELPING MONARCHS

If you are concerned about monarchs and wish to assist with the efforts to conserve monarch habitat, you could get involved with one or more of the following programs:

Monarch Watch Monarch Waystation Program

Monarchs need our help! To offset the loss of milkweeds and nectar sources we need to create, conserve, and protect milkweed/monarch habitats. We need you to help us and help monarchs by creating "Monarch Waystations" (monarch habitats) in home gardens, at schools, businesses, parks, zoos, nature centers, along roadsides, and on other unused plots of land. Without a major effort to restore milkweeds to as many locations as possible, the monarch population is certain to decline to extremely low levels.

Monarch Watch Free Milkweeds for Restoration Projects

Free milkweeds are available for habitat restoration projects in the Eastern and Western range of the monarch butterfly. Monarch Watch and our partner nurseries have distributed over 650,000 free milkweeds for monarch butterfly habitat restoration since the program began in 2015.

Monarch Watch Free Milkweeds for Schools & Non-Profits

If your school or non-profit educational organization is interested in this conservation measure, we can help you create a habitat for monarchs and pollinators. If your organization qualifies, we will provide a free flat of 32 milkweed plugs as well as guidance on how to create a new habitat or enhance an existing garden.

PRESIDENT FOX'S COMMITMENTS FOR CONSERVATION

On November 28th 2001, top Mexican political and environmental figures gathered in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve at Sierra Chincua to commemorate Mexican Conservation Week. Following the theme of ¨A New Vision for the Monarch Butterfly¨, the speakers emphasized the importance of protecting the overwintering habitat of the Monarch Butterfly while simultaneously improving the social and economic opportunities of the local communities. To this end, the speakers offered their renewed support of the conservation efforts currently being implemented in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve.

Speaking to a crowd of more than 300 local community members, President Vicente Fox promised to support the conservation efforts in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve. He publicly reaffirmed his commitment to both the conservation and the sustainable development of the region. He also promised to meet new conservation goals through the coordination of several federal agencies.

The event also included Mexican environmental officials such as the Minister of the Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT), Victor Lichtinger, the Director of the Commission for Natural Protected Areas (CONAP), Ernesto Enkerlin, and the Attorney General for the Environment (PROFEPA), Jose Campillo. The Minister of the Environment and Natural Resources, Victor Lichtinger, gave special recognition to the Packard Foundation for their support of the project. He also thanked the efforts of World Wildlife Fund (WWF-US) President, Kathryn Fuller for her contribution in creating the Monarch Butterfly Trust Fund. He also recognized Telmex Foundation for their donation of funds and equipment to PROFEPA to be used for the enforcement and vigilance of the Reserve. The contribution by the Telmex Foundation was the result of a WWF proposal that suggested such a collaboration. Minister Lichtinger also announced the imminent signing of the Fideicomiso Monarca and the subsequent conservation payments to the local communities that are scheduled for December 13th and 14th of this year.

President Fox's Commitments for Conservation (English translation; original Spanish version appears below)

Friends:

Precisely at the beginning of Conservation Week I am pleased in a very special manner to be here to establish commitments and define government actions with the purpose of accomplishing sustainable management of the natural resources in the monarch butterfly reserve.

It pleases me greatly to have been invited to this event, I am very pleased with your presence.

The monarch butterfly is currently in danger; we must act with speed and effiency. In the last 28 years we have lost already 44% of the forest cover of the region that shelters it.

To guarantee the conditions required for their overwintering and reproduction and equally to assure their migratory cycle, we are starting an integral strategy which will be a model in various ways.

In the first place, because it merges international and national efforts, The Tri-lateral Mexico-Canada-U. S. committee for the Conservation of wildlife and its Ecosystems has created the Monarch Butterfly work group to facilitate the cooperation that allows us to preserve the lives of between 100 and 140 million butterflies that hatch in the north of the continent and arrive at 5 sanctuaries in the states of Mexico and Michoacan in a trip that is truly miraculous for a being so small and so fragile.

The monarch butterfly, like all nature, is the patrimony of humanity, not solely of one country, one region, or of one group.

Because of this we are all obliged to work to preserve its existence. It is part of an extraordinary inheritance that we must watch over and protect. Its loss in factg would impoverish everyone.

In the second place, the strategy that we make known today is an example because in it coincide the efforts of the three levels of government: Federal, State, the state of Mexico and Michoacan, as well as the municipalities (counties) included in the reserve.

We all participate in a united manner to solve from origin the problems that have translated in the loss of forests that serve as a refuge to the monarch butterfly.

This participation acquires today a modality without precedents. For the first time a direct mechanism is established for the payment for ecological services rendered by communities owner of the nuclear zones of the protected natural area defined in a Decree more than 20 years ago.

But now for the first time this direct payment mechanism is established.

By means of the Monarch Trust, that to date counts with a base of 57 million pesos, 12,500 "ejidatarios" and commune residents of 37 communities of the nuclear zone will receive 170 pesos per cubic meter of forest as compensation for their logging permit and 114 pesos per wooded hectare in the conservation plan.

Thus there will no longer be justification to cut a single tree that serves as refuge for the butterflies.

We will guard with great care-every day of the year-that the patrimony of new generations will not be destroyed and we ask the inhabitants of the region and the very "ejidatarios" that they report, that they denounce every occasion in which a tree or a forest is affected.

We will give a rapid response, independently of continuing with the operatives that the Deputy of the Environment already indicated to us.

To these amounts just given, will be added 115 million pesos that we furnish in coordinating the three levels of government. This money is going to propel eco-tourism projects, hydraulic infrastructure, roads, reforestation, restoration of eroded soils, as well as sustainable agricultural and forest activities.

With this strategy, we recognize that to guarantee the life of the monarch butterfly, it is necessary also to assure the development of the communities in the area. We are going to raise the quality and the level of life of the local population, at the same time that we conserve the natural patrimony.

In the past, the Decrees of 1980 and 1986 protected the monarch butterfly in 5 sanctuaries and more than 16,000 hectares. Nevertheless, they did not take into account the repercussions for the "ejidatarios", local residents and indigenous groups in the area, that became even poorer.

So today some counties in the area have higher levels of poverty and even live in extreme poverty.

Because of this we now know that only by promoting the development of the communities and the dignified life of the inhabitants can we fully and definitely guarantee the existence of the forests critical for the survival of the monarch butterfly.

Because of this we are also announce today a series of actions by the Federal Government to conserve the natural patrimony at the same time that it cares for the local residents of the area. If we do not, we will not achieve commujnity development nor natural resource preservation.

The Cabinet of "Growing with Quality" will assure a national scheme of sustainability, through development projects compatible with conservation of biodiversity and the protection of the environment.

The Cabinet of Law and Compliance will duplicate and fortify the vigilance of the natural resources especially in the protected areas. For this purpose the Secretary of Public Security, the Attorney General, the Federal Director of the Environment, and the Secretary of National Defense will coordinate their projects and actions. All as a team, assuring and guaranteeing the protection of the areas of natural resources.

For its part, the National Forestry Commission joined with the National Commission of Protected National Areas will coordinate from today so by 2006 the total of the forested zones belonging to these areas are restored. Some of them have over half of their surface deteriorated. This is a promise for the next 5 years, to fully restore the protected areas.

It falls to SAGARPA to strengthen in these same zones productive reconversion, to substitute slash-burn practices with permanent agricultural plots, the actions of PROCAMPO (a program), and to guarantee their alignment with the conservation regulations.

The Secretary of Agrarian Reform has been instructed to bring immediate solutions to the land ownership problems to resolve agrarian conflicts that prevent application of the strategies of conservation.

In the same manner we have instructed the Sectretary of Social Development to give priority to the locations included in the protected natural areas and that they be added to the Program of Attention of 250 microregions in the country, the poorest and most marginalized of our country.

The Secretary of Communication and Transportation together with the National Commission of Protected Natural Areas will assure with their projects that in the area and in the surrounding areas they will avoid any alteration to biodiversity.

Finally, the Secretary of Tourism will continue to promote eco-tourism in the protected natural areas, with the purpose to provide alternative options of development to their communities and improve the level of life.

President Vicente Fox
San Felipe del Progreso, Estado de México
November 28th, 2001

PHOTOS (provided by WWF-MX):

	A New Vision for the Monarch Butterfly
	Officials accompanying President Fox Governors of Michoacán, Estado de México, the Minister of the Environment and Natural Resources, the Attorney Gerneral for the Environment, the Director of CONAP, and the WWF Mexico Program Office Director and Representative among others.
	President Vicente Fox congratulates WWF Mexico Program Representative Juan Bezaury.

Monarch Watch would like to thank the following people for providing this information:

- Jordi Honey-Rosés, World Wildlife Fund Mexico

- Lincoln Brower, Sweet Briar College

- Mike Quinn, Texas Monarch Watch

- Alida Madero-Enkerlin

ORIGINAL SPANISH

Amigas y amigos:

Precisamente en el marco de La Semana de Conservación, me complace --de manera muy especial-- el estar aquí, para establecer compromisos y definir acciones de Gobierno, con el propósito de lograr un manejo sustentable de los recursos naturales en la reserva de la mariposa monarca.

Agradezco mucho que me hayan invitado a este evento, agradezco mucho la presencia de todas y todos ustedes.

La mariposa monarca está hoy en peligro, debemos actuar con rapidez y eficacia. En los últimos 28 años hemos perdido ya el 44 por ciento de la superficie boscosa de la región que la alberga.

Para garantizar las condiciones que exige su invernación y reproducción, al igual que asegurar su ciclo migratorio, estamos poniendo en marcha una estrategia integral y que será modelo en varios sentidos.

En primer término, porque conjuga esfuerzos internacionales y nacionales. El Comité Trilateral México-Canadá-Estados Unidos para la Conservación de la Vida Silvestre y sus Ecosistemas ha creado el grupo de trabajo Mariposa Monarca, para facilitar la cooperación que nos permita preservar la vida de entre 100 y 140 millones de mariposas que nacen en el norte del Continente y llegan a cinco santuarios en el Estado de México y el estado de Michoacán, en un viaje que es verdaderamente milagroso para unos seres tan pequeños y tan frágiles.

La mariposa monarca, como la naturaleza en su conjunto, es patrimonio de la humanidad; no sólo de un país, una región o de un grupo.

Por esto, todas y todos estamos obligados a trabajar, para preservar su existencia. Es parte de una herencia extraordinaria que debemos cuidar y proteger. Su pérdida en realidad nos empobrecería a todas y a todos.

En segundo lugar, la estrategia que hoy damos a conocer es ejemplar porque en ella coinciden los esfuerzos de los tres órdenes de Gobierno: Gobierno Federal, gobierno estatal, el Estado de México y Michoacán, así como los municipios incluidos en la reserva.

Todos participamos de manera conjunta, para resolver de raíz los problemas que se han traducido en la pérdida de los bosques que sirven de refugio a la Mariposa Monarca.

Esa participación adquiere hoy una modalidad sin precedentes. Por primera vez se establece un mecanismo directo para el pago de los servicios de conservación que prestan las comunidades propietarias de las zonas núcleo del área natural protegida, definidas en un Decreto desde hace más de 20 años.

Pero ahora, por primera vez se establece este mecanismo directo de pago.

Mediante el Fideicomiso Monarca, que a la fecha cuenta con un fondo de 57 millones de pesos, 12 mil 500 ejidatarios y comuneros de 37 comunidades de la zona núcleo recibirán 170 pesos por metro cúbico de bosque como compensación a su permiso forestal y 114 pesos por hectárea boscosa en régimen de conservación.

Así ya no habrá justificación para que se corte un sólo árbol que sirva de refugio a las mariposas.

Vigilaremos con mucho cuidado --cada día del año-- que no se destruya el patrimonio de las nuevas generaciones y pedimos a los habitantes de la región y a los propios ejidatarios que denuncien, que denuncien cada occasion en que sea afectado un árbol o un bosque.

Daremos una respuesta rápida, independientemente de continuar con los operativos que ya nos indicaba el Procurador del Medio Ambiente.

A estas cifras que acabo de dar, se añaden 115 millones de pesos que aportamos en coordinación los tres órdenes de Gobierno. Con ese dinero se va a impulsar proyectos de ecoturismo, infraestructura hidráulica, caminos, reforestación, restauración de suelos erosionados, así como actividades agropecuarias y forestales sustentables.

Con esta estrategia, reconocemos que para garantizar la vida de la mariposa Monarca, hay que asegurar también el desarrollo de las comunidades en la zona. Vamos a elevar la calidad y el nivel de vida de la población local, al mismo tiempo que conservamos el patrimonio natural.

En el pasado, los decretos de 1980 y 1986 protegieron a la mariposa monarca en cinco santuarios y más de 16 mil hectáreas. Sin embargo, no se tomaron en cuenta sus repercusiones para los ejidatarios, comuneros y grupos indígenas de la zona, cuyas condiciones de pobreza se agudizaron.

De modo que hoy algunos municipios del área tiene niveles significativamente mayores de marginación e inclusive, viven en la pobreza extrema.

Por esto, ahora sabemos muy bien que sólo promoviendo el desarrollo de las comunidades y la vida digna de sus habitantes, podemos garantizar plenamente y de forma definitiva la existencia de los bosques indispensables para la mariposa monarca.

Por eso hoy también anunciamos una serie de acciones del Gobierno Federal para conservar el patrimonio natural y para atender simultáneamente a los grupos humanos que viven en estas zonas. De otra manera, no lograremos promover el desarrollo de las comunidades, ni preservar el recurso natural.

El Gabinete de Crecimiento con Calidad asegurará un esquema nacional de sustentabilidad, mediante proyectos de desarrollo compatibles con la conservación de la biodiversidad y la protección del medio ambiente.

El Gabinete de Orden y Respeto duplicará y fortalecerá la vigilancia sobre los recursos naturales, en especial dentro de las áreas protegidas. Por este fin, coordinarán sus proyectos y acciones la Secretaría de Seguridad Pública, la Procuraduría General de la República, la Procuraduría Federal de Protección del Medio Ambiente y la Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional. Todos en equipo, asegurando y garantizando la protección de las áreas de recursos naturales.

Por su parte la Comisión Nacional Forestal, junto con la Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas, se coordinan para que desde hoy y antes del 2006 se restaure el total de las zonas forestales pertenecientes a estas áreas, algunas de ellas deterioradas en casi la mitad de su superficie. Este es un compromiso a lograr en estos próximos 5 años, la restauración total de las áreas protegidas.

Toca a la SAGARPA reforzar en estas mismas zonas la reconversión productiva, la sedentarización de la milpa, las acciones de PROCAMPO y garantizar su alineación con las políticas de conservación.

La Secretaría de la Reforma Agraria ha sido instruida para aportar soluciones inmediatas a los problemas de tenencia de la tierra para resolver conflictos agrarios que impidan aplicar mejor las estrategias de conservación.

De igual manera, hemos instruido a la Secretaría de Desarrollo Social para que dé prioridad a las localidades incluidas en las áreas naturals protegidas y sean sumadas al Programa de Atención de 250 Micro-regiones en el país, las más pobres y marginadas de nuestro México.

La Secretaría de Comunicaciones y Transportes, junto con la Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas, asegurarán con sus proyectos que en la zona y en las inmediaciones de la zona eviten alterar de manera alguna la biodiversidad.

Por último la Secretaría de Turismo, además de cumplirle a Raymundo inmediatamente el ofrecimiento que hiciera, la Secretaría de Turismo continuará impulsando el ecoturismo en las áreas naturales protegidas, a fin de dar opciones de desarrollo a sus comunidades, a fin de mejorar el nivel de vida.

President Vicente Fox
San Felipe del Progreso, Estado de México
November 28th, 2001