Monarch Numbers Improve, But Butterflies Aren’t Out of the Woods Yet

WASHINGTON, DC (February 26, 2016) – The population of monarch butterflies overwintering in the Mexican forests of Michoacan has increased three and half times  to approximately150 million butterflies.

Following is a statement from Sylvia Fallon, Senior Scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council:

“The monarch butterfly population rebound is hopeful, good news. But it doesn’t mean the monarch is out of the woods yet. From a historic perspective, the number of butterflies is still shockingly low; more than 1 billion monarchs graced the skies just 20 years ago. The plight of the monarch is a message to the rest of us that we are managing our world toward extinction.

“The widespread use of increasingly deadly pesticides is a death knell for monarch survival. We need to scale back the use of these pervasive pesticides and plant more milkweed to keep these incredible creatures alive and thriving.”

For more information, see Sylvia’s blog: Monarch numbers are up, but they're not out of the woods yet