Disappearing Texas Monarch butterfly will get federal assistance





PHOTOS: Texas' most threatened and endangered species ... less MICHOACAN, MEXICO - FEBRUARY 5: Monarch Butterflies mass on a tree branch in the Cerro Chincua mountain at the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Cerro Chincua central Mexico in Michoacan State. Each year hundreds of millions Monarch butterflies mass migrate from the U.S. and Canada to Oyamel fir forests in the volcanic highlands of central Mexico. North American monarchs are the only butterflies that make such a massive journey up to 3,000 miles (4,828 kilometers). MICHOACAN, MEXICO - FEBRUARY 5: Monarch Butterflies mass on a tree branch in the Cerro Chincua mountain at the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Cerro Chincua central Mexico in Michoacan State. Each year ... more Photo: Richard Ellis, Getty Images Photo: Richard Ellis, Getty Images Image 1 of / 56 Caption Close Disappearing Texas Monarch butterfly will get federal assistance 1 / 56 Back to Gallery

Texas' state insect faces demise, so the feds are stepping in. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Tuesday a plan to revitalize the Monarch butterfly population, which has fallen by more than 90 percent in the last two decades.

Last month, the Chronicle reported that the butterflies were being considered for a place on the endangered species list. Experts said the main culprit of the monarchs' devastating decline is the use of genetically modified, herbicide-resistant crops that allow farmers to drench fields in weed poison, prohibiting the growth of native plants the butterflies use to eat and lay eggs.

"We've been aware of the plight of the monarch butterfly in North America for some time and we have been looking at ways that we can go about reversing the situation, and I think it was decided that what we needed was really immediate on-the-ground action," said FWS spokesman Gavin Shire.

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The service pledged $3.2 million to monarch revival, most of which will fund habitat restoration projects. Texas will host 10 of 24 scheduled projects, with in more than $700 thousand in funding. The main goal: plant more milkweed.

"Milkweed is really the keystone habitat species for the monarch because it's the sole breeding plant where the monarch lays eggs. So that's crucial – without milkweed there simply aren't any other monarchs," said Shire.

The decline of milkweed has been the decline of the monarchs. A bulbous plant, milkweed can weather farmers' plows that turn it over in the soil. But the engineering of plants resistant to herbicide has allowed farmers to spray down soil with chemicals that milkweed cannot tolerate. As a result, it largely has vanished from the widely-cultivated Midwest, and the monarchs have followed.

In Texas, monarch habitat also has been lost to urban development, as native prairies turn to lawns, parking lots and roads. Many residents have seen the orange winged insects numbers fall, as their yearly migration shrinks with each pass.

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The FWS will form a "Texas Native Pollinator Initiative" with hopes of gathering local partners from across the state to spread native milkweed seeds and monitor the monarch population. Other projects involve partnerships with the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department and the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

Shire called Texas, especially the Interstate 35 corridor, a "critical breeding, wintering and migration corridor for the monarchs," which is largely why Texas will see so many of the federally-funded restoration projects.

It's also why the Texas Legislature named the butterflies the state insect in 1995. Then, a billion of the regal bugs flew through the Lone Star State on their way to Mexico each year. Twenty years later, about 30 million remain. Texas used to herald the sight of tens of thousands of butterflies nesting on a single, but it's seen less often today. However the plight of the monarchs has garnered significant attention in just the past month, and promising efforts could bring the fragile creates back from the brink of extinction.

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