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PROTECTION FOR MONARCH BUTTERFLY |
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PROTECTION FOR MONARCH BUTTERFLY |
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Highlighted words
are explained at the end of the
passage. |
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Presidential
Decree Strengthens |
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Monarch Butterfly |
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Washington, DC - Every fall, all of the hundreds of millions of monarch
butterflies (Danaus plexippus) from east of the Rocky
Mountains head south from Canada and the United States to take
refuge in one winter retreat - a unique Mexican forest located
70 miles west of Mexico City. The monarchs' migration is an
amazing feat - an annual exhausting journey, covering more than
3,000 miles, in which the delicate butterflies must dodge an
obstacle course of accidental run-ins with windshields, people
and predators. Converging on this oyamel (balsam fir) forest
just after the North American Halloween and the Mexican Day of
the Dead holidays, the monarchs will literally cover the trees
with their orange and black wings. Here for the next six months,
they rest and recharge in preparation for their migration back
north in the spring. Key to the whole marvelous cycle is the quality of the Mexican forest
which serves as the monarchs' winter sanctuary. It must be a
shelter where the butterflies will be protected from the cold,
wind and rain, and in which they can conserve the necessary
energy to make the return flight. In the 1940's, when University
of Toronto entomologist Fred A. Urquhart and his wife Norah
began tracing the monarchs' fall migration by tagging their
wings, the Mexican forest was undisturbed. By the mid-seventies,
when the monarchs' unique winter haven was reported to the
scientific community, scientists began to see the first signs of
trouble in the monarch's paradise. Dr. Lincoln Brower, currently a monarch biologist at Sweet Briar College,
noticed on his first visit to Mexico in January 1977 that the
forest was being logged, and that a
sawmill operator was
expanding his operation directly toward the butterfly colonies.
Brower has been documenting the on-going degradation of the
forest and its impact on the monarch since then. The resulting
study, authored by Brower with colleagues at the National
Autonomous University of Mexico and the World Wildlife Fund, and
recently submitted to the Mexican government, has unveiled some
disturbing findings. Through a series of aerial photographs taken in the 1970's, 1983 and
1999, the new study shows that 44 percent of the forest has been
damaged or destroyed since the butterfly roosts were discovered.
Despite a 1986 presidential decree designating the area as a
protected reserve for monarch butterflies, the forest is being
thinned and fragmented, to the extent that the average size of
the conserved patches or forest decreased nearly 90 percent to
500 acres. The degradation of the forest exposes the butterflies
to numerous threats. A functional oyamel forest ecoregion in
Mexico has been scientifically documented as critical to the
survival of the monarch butterfly migration, which has been
recognized by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) as an
endangered biological phenomenon and the first priority in world
butterfly conservation. "The Achilles heel of the monarch butterfly is the cutting of the oyamel forests. We could lose the whole (monarch butterfly) migratory phenomenon if the present rate of destruction of these forests is not stopped immediately," says Brower. "Like the canary in the coal mine, if the monarch falls, then we might have major ecosystem collapse. If in fact, this species goes, we may see a major toppling of other species going with it," warns Brower. |
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Some time ago conservation organizations, local
communities and the Mexican government took major steps to
protect the monarch and ensure its future. |
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Monarch
Butterfly |
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In collaboration with the Fondo Mexicano para la
Conservación de la Naturaleza (FMCN), World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
has helped the Mexican government design this innovative
strategy that includes the establishment of a trust fund,
initially capitalized through a $5 million grant from the
Packard Foundation, to support long-term conservation of the
monarch butterfly winter sanctuary. "Linking an innovative economic incentive to the declaration of the new monarch reserve will give a significant boost to monarch protection," said Kathryn S. Fuller, president, World Wildlife Fund. "Our hope is that the new decree will provide a "win-win" situation for all stakeholders, ensuring the survival of these extraordinary creatures for future generations." |
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