Saving the monarch butterfly: the feds have an offer for private industry

A partnership can help ensure this important species is protected in cooperative agreements, rather than through forced regulation that can actually backfire.

Monarch butterflies' declining numbers stem from habitat destruction blamed on factors such as last year’s Texas drought and wildfires and

The last thing we need right now is for one of the beautiful things in life to continue to disappear.

That’s what’s been happening for years now to the monarch butterfly, with its numbers declining precipitously as habitat is lost and other factors threaten it.

We have some good news on this front that involves the kind of partnership between government and industry that can help ensure important species are protected in cooperative agreements rather than forced regulation that can actually backfire on preservation efforts.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has announced the first national agreement of its kind that could see millions of acres preserved for monarch butterfly habitat by utilities, state transportation agencies, railroad companies and a number of other landowners. ......Full Story Here

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Scientists change butterflies wing color in just six generations

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Scientists began gathering biological information only a few months after the disastrous 2011 meltdown of the Fukushima power plant in Japan. Results of these studies are now beginning to reveal serious biological effects of the Fukushima radiation on non-human organisms ranging from plants to butterflies to birds. View the Original article

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Monarch Conservation

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