CONDON’S CORNER
Make Monarchs Great (in numbers) Again
[Published March 11, 2025, by The Daily Progress, the daily newspaper of Charlottesville, Virginia, and The News Virginian, the daily newspaper of Waynesboro, Virginia. Published March 12, 2025, by The Daily News-Record, the daily newspaper of Harrisonburg, Virginia.]
© Marlene A. Condon 2025 All Rights Reserved
MAGA—Make America Great Again—is a revived political slogan originally employed by President Ronald Reagan in 1980. Many interpretations of its message exist, but one thing is for sure: Its current usage does not embody conservation of the environment that supports us.
It’s unfortunate but true that unless something occurs immediately following an action taken, such as getting lung cancer or COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) as soon as one starts smoking, people often refuse to believe the connection between the events. The denial of climate change by our current president parallels this statement perfectly.
But our climate has indeed changed for the worse—as scientists had predicted. Summers have become blazingly hot and winters frigidly cold, while strong winds push over large trees that have died or are in the process of dying as a result of the increasingly frequent bouts of drought. And yet, small engines (lawn mowers, leaf blowers) are still often employed while many people continue to drive as much as ever, sending ever more pollutants responsible for climate change into our atmosphere.
Climate change isn’t about just us. Its effects upon wildlife can be far greater than the consequences for humans. People have the ability to move somewhere more able to support them; animals don’t always enjoy that option (think seals and polar bears dependent upon Arctic icebergs that are becoming far fewer).
For insects, such as the Monarch butterfly, a severe shortage of precipitation (drought) or a precipitation deluge can increase individual mortality, as well as limit procreation. Recurring droughts in Virginia are very restrictive for the many plants that can feed adult Monarchs during their migration to Mexico.
Should we care about these fellow organisms? Absolutely. Wildlife represents the cogs in the environmental machine that keeps it functioning properly for the benefit of all living things. As we lose species, we lose the ability of the environment to fully support any of us.
The Monarch—being a migratory species—is especially prone to difficulties caused by weather events. Its numbers have been precipitously dropping for many years now (though not only due to climate change), sending us a dire message that we would do well to heed: Something is terribly wrong with our world.
When Monarchs were first discovered overwintering in Mexico in 1975, they covered the Oyamel fir trees in a mountainous forest location. Prominent entomologist Lincoln Brower, who studied Monarchs for six decades and spent the end of his career at Sweet Briar College in Virginia, was so awed upon viewing the wintering Monarchs within a year of their discovery, that he said, “It was like walking into Chartres Cathedral and seeing light coming through stained-glass windows. This was the eighth wonder of the world.”
Heartbreakingly, this eighth wonder of the world has been dwindling in numbers and is now being considered for threatened status by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.
In the winter of 1995-96, 45 acres (18.21 hectares) of forest were covered with monarchs. From then to 2003-04, their populations fluctuated annually, with this last season showing 27.5 acres (11.13 hectares) of forest coverage. But then a downward spiral began in earnest, with the monarch’s forest coverage in the winter season of 2020 being just over 5 acres (2.02 hectares).
https://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/the-great-monarch-migration
In the 2023-2024 season, the butterflies covered only 2.2 acres (0.9 hectares). It’s the second-worst year ever recorded. 5.4 acres (2.2 hectares) were recorded in the 2022-2023 season.
The 2024-25 winter season survey numbers just came out, showing Monarchs are covering 4.42 acres (1.8 hectares), which is quite an improvement from last year. The annual survey measures the area of forest in which monarch butterflies hibernate each winter, and is considered a reliable indicator of the eastern monarch’s population status. Sadly, this is still pitifully far below their historic numbers from decades ago.
If you care about the Monarch butterfly and about preserving its unique migratory journey, please send your comments encouraging the Fish and Wildlife Service to employ the Endangered Species Act to try to help prevent the extinguishment of the eighth wonder of the world.
The comment period ends Wednesday, March 12, 2025. The link below will take you to a site that answers many questions you might have. It also provides the link and instructions for submitting your comments.
https://monarchjointventure.org/blog/usfws-seeks-public-input-on-monarch-butterfly-esa-listing or look up “USFWS Seeks Public Input on Monarch Butterfly ESA Listing”.
Make Monarchs great (in numbers) again!