Monarch butterfly conservation gets $10 million as SLO County population rebounds
As California’s monarch butterfly population rebounds from a historic low, the federal government is setting aside $10 million for conservation efforts, two Central Coast congressmen announced.
That’s a $6 million increase over what was approved for the prior fiscal year, according to a news release from U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal’s office.
Of the $10 million, $3 million will come from the Monarch and Pollinator Highway Program, which was adopted as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 with the support of Carbajal, D-Santa Barbara, and U.S. Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Carmel Valley.
The program “promotes pollinator-friendly practices on roadsides and highway rights-of-way, including the planting and seeding of native, locally appropriate grasses, wildflowers, and milkweed,” the release said.
That funding is available for state transportation departments and Native American tribes to “better conserve pollinator habitats and populations,” according to the release.
“I’m pleased we were able to secure this important increase in federal resources for preserving and growing the monarch populations in our region and across the western United States,” Carbajal said in the release.
According to the release, monarch butterfly populations have decreased by an estimated 95% since the 1980s.
“The decline of monarch butterfly populations poses a serious threat to our environment, farmers, food supply, and the very character of our communities in California,” Panetta said in the release. “This funding for the newly created Monarch and Pollinator Highway Program is critical to empowering state and local governments to restore the habitats of these essential pollinators.”
In 2020, the western monarch butterfly population hit an all-time low.
Fewer than 2,000 of the orange-and-black insects were counted across California that year, compared to nearly 250,000 in 2021.
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Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation employees and volunteers tallied more than 129,000 monarch butterflies in San Luis Obispo County alone in November, according to preliminary data.
That’s the most counted in San Luis Obispo County in more than 20 years — in 1998 there were about 182,000 counted, according to the Xerces Society’s data.
The Pismo Beach Monarch Butterfly Grove typically hosts the largest overwintering population in California.
President Joe Biden also allocated funding to monarch butterfly conservation through the National Wildlife Refuge System for fiscal year 2023.
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Those funds will be released to the U.S. Department of Interior, along with $3 million for scientific research, according to the news release.
According to the release, Carbajal, Panetta and U.S. Rep. Jeff Merkley of Oregon reintroduced the bipartisan, bicameral Monarch Action, Recovery, and Conservation of Habitat (MONARCH) Act as well as the Monarch and Pollinator Highway Act during the previous congressional session.
They plan to reintroduce the MONARCH Act in the 118th Congress, the release said.
