From PennEnvironment (http://www.pennenvironment.org):
The great monarch migration has begun once again as the butterflies prepare to depart their winter resting grounds in Mexico. But this year’s numbers have dropped by 53 percent.1
There are several factors contributing to monarchs’ struggles, but there is one simple step we can take right now to make a major difference for these majestic butterflies: planting more milkweed, the plant they depend on to support their young.
Please help to support monarchs by telling our governor to plant monarch-friendly plants on public lands in Pennsylvania at https://pennenvironment.webaction.org/p/dia/action4/common/public/?action_KEY=37966.
Monarch butterflies, easily recognized by their orange and black wings, are a keystone species known for their remarkable migration up and down North America. But since 1990, about 970 million monarchs have vanished from the skies they once majestically traveled from Mexico to the United States and Canada each spring.2
The decline of monarch populations is consistent with that of other butterflies and pollinators such as bees. Researchers credit that decline to climate change and the widespread use of pesticides — such as neonicotinoids, or neonics — on farms and home gardens and lawns. Both have decimated milkweed and nectar plants that monarchs rely on to lay their eggs and feed their young.3
Tell our governor: Protect monarchs in Pennsylvania.
PennEnvironment and our national network are working across the country to restrict pesticides that kill pollinators and increase pollinator-friendly plants, and several states have already taken action.
The simple action of planting milkweed on state lands, such as along highways, in wildlife refuges, on lawns of state buildings, on campuses and more, is a concrete action we can take right now to support monarch butterflies.
Make Pennsylvania safe for monarchs.
1. “Mexico: Monarch butterflies drop 53% in wintering area,” Associated Press, March 13, 2020.
2. Darryl Fears, “The monarch massacre: Nearly a billion butterflies have vanished,” The Washington Post, February 9, 2020.
3. Karen Weintraub, “What’s Happening to the Monarch Butterfly Population,” The New York Times, March 20, 2020.
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