John,

Imagine you're still a child.

You're chasing after monarchs and other butterflies in your yard, with net in hand. You raise one from just a caterpillar for an elementary school science project. One day, you look up and see thousands of little orange and black wings fluttering overhead. You're witnessing one of nature's great migrations.

Yet in the last few decades, American monarch populations have collapsed. A child born today is less likely to see a monarch than you were. They may even experience a day when monarchs are not seen at all.

Tell the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to put monarchs -- a special and important species -- under protection today.

There are two main populations of monarchs in the Lower 48 states. Both are struggling.

Eastern monarchs have suffered a staggering 80% decline, while their western cousins face an existential threat: Upwards of 95% of their population has vanished since the 1980s.1

Monarchs are flexible and adaptive survivors. After all, these butterflies can travel more than 2,500 miles each migration, and individual monarchs can cover up to 80 miles every day.2

At the migration's end, people come from across the globe to witness acres of trees coated in amber, their limbs drooping under the weight of countless tiny bodies.

However, one California-based monarch landing spot has begun to record a disturbing trend. In 1997, population monitors recorded about 1.2 million monarchs. In 2023, this same site tallied just 233,000 monarchs. In 2024, only 9,119 butterflies. That's a 99.2% decrease in the count since 1997.3

Tell the Fish and Wildlife Service to put monarchs on the endangered species list.

Endangered species protection would offer monarchs a lifeline as they struggle to survive the threats of climate change, habitat destruction and the overuse of toxic pesticides.

• Threat #1: Pesticides: Pesticides carelessly kill insects, whether invasive or native, pollinator or pest. One class of pesticides called neonicotinoids is largely responsible for a 48-fold increase in the toxicity of American agriculture since their commercial introduction in the 1990s.4 Using neonics strongly correlates with steep declines in the populations of monarchs and other pollinators.5

• Threat #2: Habitat destruction: As urbanization, large-scale farming, mono-cropping and suburban sprawl have taken over many of our meadows and prairies, landscapes once packed with nutritious nectar have become ecological dead zones dominated by parking lots, lawns and monocrops.6

• Threat #3: Milkweed die-off: Adult monarchs exclusively lay their eggs on the leaves of the milkweed plant, and their caterpillars will eat only those leaves.7 But pesticide use has caused U.S. milkweed populations to sharply decline: From 2007 to 2017 American milkweed declined by over 860 million stems.8

• Threat #4: Climate change: Monarchs use temperature and climatic conditions as signs to begin migration, hibernation and reproduction. As temperatures increase, these sensitive insects may mistime these cues, leaving for migration or laying eggs too early.9

Once a species is declared threatened or endangered, government officials have to work to stem the threats driving them toward extinction. That's why we must urge the FWS to reclassify monarchs.

We can't lose this iconic species. Protect monarchs from extinction. Tell the FWS to classify monarchs as threatened.

Thank you,

Ellen Montgomery

1. Emily Kwong, Nathan Rott, Rachel Carlson and Rebecca Ramirez, "Monarch butterflies may soon get protections under Endangered Species Act," NPR, November 25, 2024.
2. "Monarch Butterfly Migration and Overwintering," U.S. Forest Service, last accessed April 16, 2025.
3. Fabiola Sánchez, "Monarch butterflies wintering in Mexico rebound this year," Associated Press News, March 6, 2025.
4. Kendra Klein and Anna Lappé, "America's agriculture is 48 times more toxic than 25 years ago. Blame neonics," The Guardian, August 7, 2019.
5. Steve Blackledge, "For struggling butterflies, if it's not one pesticide, it's another," Environment America, July 11, 2024.
6. Patrick Barkham, "Flower power! The movement to bring back Britain's beautiful meadows," The Guardian, January 28, 2021.
7. "Milkweed and Monarchs," National Park Service, last accessed April 16, 2025.
8. "Billions More Milkweeds Needed to Restore Monarchs," U.S. Geological Survey, April 27, 2017.
9. Mia Taylor, "Millions of monarch butterflies have gone missing, and there is one thing humans can do to help," BBC, February 8, 2024.