Good News on Monarch Butterflies – For Now
So the numbers are out on the eastern Monarch population in Mexico for the winter of 2015-2016, and the news is good. The Monarchs roosting in pine forests occupied a total of 4.01 hectares (a little under 10 acres) this year, more than three times last year’s 1.13 hectares (less than 3 acres). The population nadir occurred in 2013-2014, when Monarchs covered just 0.67 hectares, about 1.5 acres.
The 2015-2016 numbers were just released today by the Monarch Joint Venture, a partnership of US government agencies and environmental organizations.
Here’s a chart showing the winter Monarch population since 1994.
The Monarch recovery is still very fragile. Research indicates that a population covering 6 hectares is needed to bounce back from sudden population declines caused by bad weather or disease. Moreover, this winter’s population is just a small fraction of the Monarchs overwintering in 1996-1997, when they covered over 18 hectares.
Good weather and habitat restoration both seem to have contributed to the recent increase in the Monarch population. A great deal more still needs to be done, though.
On an individual level, I take this as a reason to plant MORE MILKWEED (Asclepias) in home gardens, starting with my own. I am actually waiting for a shipment of a Sullivant’s Milkweed (Asclepias sullivantii) from Prairie Moon Nursery. This species is supposed to be similar to Common Milkweed (A. syriaca), with round umbels of fragrant pink-lavender flowers – but much less aggressive.
And I noticed that Prairie Nursery is selling two new Milkweeds this year: Showy Milkweed (A. speciosa) and Poke Milkweed (A. exaltata), a taller Milkweed that can grow in shade.
Another aspect of the problem is the use of insecticides, particularly neonicotinoids. Any gardener who wishes to help Monarchs and pollinators generally should refrain from using these toxic products. However, it will require government action to substantially reduce the application of the most harmful insecticides.
To that end, it was frustrating to read of a report from a UN-affiliated agency on the status of pollinators. The report seemed to treat the complexity of the threats to pollinator populations as a reason to avoid calling for strong action on pesticides. A spokesperson for Bayer, the company that manufactures neonicotinoids, was pleased.
gardeninacity 
Good news indeed. thank you! re the swamp milkweed: is it the same as Joe Pye weed?
No, those are different genera. The Milkweed (Asclepias) is the host plant plus a good nectar plant, the Joe Pye (Eutrochium) is a good nectar plant but not a host for caterpillars.
I hear you.
It is good news, though the general state of pollinators is dicey, to say the least. I’m eagerly awaiting our first monarchs through here from Mexico in the next weeks! Thanks for spreading the good news about these lovely insects.
I also meant to add that the photos chosen for the post are exquisite!
We won’t see any Monarchs for months, but I too am looking forward to more plentiful Monarchs in the Summer garden.
That is wonderful news, hopefully it will improve each year from now on. When are people going to realise that you don’t need to use insecticides to have a lovely garden, leave it to nature, she knows what she is doing!
I think it will take a combination of public education and government action to stem the onslaught of insecticides – achieving the latter will not be easy.
Great news about the Monarch, but I hope it doesn’t give a false sense of security. We need to keep the pressure on retailers to eliminate neonics.
I completely agree!
The lobby for these poisons is strong and the ignorance still continues. I am pleased to hear this great news, but am also cautious as we are not out of the woods. Also thanks for the info on the newer milkweeds available. I will be considering some more milkweed too for the garden.
Caution is certainly warranted, we have a long way to go before we can breathe easy regarding Monarchs and pollinators generally.
Yes I expect the man from Bayer was pleased, what an utterly short sighted selfish response.
Yup. If they can get away with something, they will.
Thanks for the update, Jason. S,mall but important steps to recovery Beautiful picture of the monarch on the hyssop.
I’m still having trouble getting purple milkweed to make a home in my garden. However, I was asking for butterflyweed (A tuberosa) at a local nursery last year and they gave me what turned out to be a flourishing variety called “hello yellow”. It bloomed like crazy from late June through August and the monarchs, swallowtails, and bees loved it. It’s about 3′ tall which made me wonder about A tuberosa, usually much shorter.
Glad A. tuberosa is working fof you. I have seen ‘hello yellow’ in catalogs but didn’t know it got so tall.
Hear, hear! However, so glad we can be cautiously optimistic about those winged beauties. And, wonderful pictures!
Thanks!
Thank you for the good news — and I look forward to finding different varieties of milkweed. The common milkweed that I’ve propagated in my garden is kind of enormous and unruly.
🙂
Common Milkweed is pretty aggressive, especially in a garden setting.
Reblogged this on The Blonde Gardener and commented:
Good news about Monarch butterflies!
Thanks for reblogging!
I have found it hard to keep the butterfly weed or the swamp milkweed going in the garden. The swamp milkweed needs quite a bit of moisture and while it will adapt in some manner to dryer site, over time it seems to diminish. As for orange butterfly weed it tends to like dry well-drained sandy soils. It is not commonly available. I believe it requires cold stratification to grow from seed. Many asclepias require a bit of moisture. The showy milkweed native to the western United States may be different in this regard and possibly not as invasive as the common milkweed.
Doesn’t your area have pretty sand soil? The swamp milkweed does pretty well in my garden with medium soil.
We have only the common milkweed. I tried the orange “butterfly milkweed”, but it didn’t come back after a year or so. I need to order some more and try them in different places. That is a very fragile recovery.
Do you have clay soil? Butterflyweed usually likes sandy soil, but Prairie Nursery has a Butterflyweed for Clay which has grown well for me. If you have moist or medium soil try Swamp Milkweed.
I never saw as many monarchs as when I was a young girl living in Houston. The oak tree in our backyard would sometimes be covered with them. I’m glad that they have had a good year.
They used to be so common not that many years ago.
A small but important step Jason. Lets hope those numbers begin to increase and someone somewhere finally listens and realises that choices need to be made. That guy from Bayer certainly won’t!
Well, at least more attention and effort is being directed to saving the Monarchs and other pollinators.
This is wonderful news!!
Agreed!
We have almost four acres but live close to a subdivision of large, modern houses that have their yards sprayed all year long. Some people get it and others still think that green, weed free grass is the way to go. Judy’s photos are wonderful. 🙂
They are pretty wonderful, aren’t they? It’s true that there are still way too many people who think the only good bug is a dead bug.
I didn’t see a single one here last year but other areas in the state had a few. I hope they’ll become stronger year by year.
I thinks we are all hoping for that.
We had a few Monarch last summer (4 or 5) which was better than none the year before. We maintain a very large patch of A. syriaca. Apparently one of the big problems is that earwigs eat the eggs. That is why some people have taken to raising them indoor and releasing them in nature.
Yes, I know people who raise the eggs indoors. Our problem is that we never see the eggs or the caterpillars. I wonder if we have earwigs.
This is good news although when you look at how much the population goes up and down each year I think another good year would make me feel a little bit better.
I’m not sure if I see the connection between neonics and monarchs. I’m all for reducing pesticide use and misuse but monarchs seem to grow up on weeds and feed on wildflowers and garden flowers, not the agricultural crops which usually suffer the highest neonic loading. I find the link between roundup use and decreasing monarchs to be more serious. Maybe we should breed a roundup ready milkweed to seed into fields…
My understanding is that the neonics are systemic and get into the nectar of flowers and from there to the butterflies and others that feed on the nectar. The impact of Roundup is indirect – Roundup tolerant crops allow farmers to drench whole fields in the stuff, resulting in far fewer weeds, including milkweeds, than there used to be.
That is good news. I have not seen a single monarch butterfly in my garden for the past three years — and I’d much rather have monarch caterpillars than milkweed tussock moth caterpillars munching on my milkweed plants. Maybe this year.
I do see mature Monarchs, but never Caterpillars, despite all the Milkweed. I’m also hoping that will change this year.
I like your approach with this post. There’s reason for optimism, yet the numbers are still much lower than they should be. You’re right: Let’s continue to plant more Milkweed and avoid pesticides!
Yes, and continue to spread the word as best we can.
Very alarming to see how low the Monarch colonies got to on the graph by 2014, and things look hopeful now, but still too many pesticides in the world generally.
There’s been some improvement for the Monarchs, but there’s still a long way to go.
I’ve not seen one in Real Life (being in the UK) but have seen the spectacle of these beautiful butterflies on nature programmes on TV. It is indeed good news that they seem to be increasing in numbers and long may it continue. Do you think that big pharma/chemical companies operate in a different universe to us?! It never ceases to amaze me that they continue to peddle their wares when there is evidence of harm. ANY evidence of harm should send them back to the lab. Grrr. Exquisite photos.
I think the chemical companies will keep doing what they’re doing as long as they’re allowed. Glad you like the photos.
Sadly the big chemical companies have so much power. The EU is going to renew permits this week to use glyphosate (Roundup) on crops. The studies claiming that it is harmless all seem to rely on tests carried out by government institutions (whose interests are…?). Millions must have been spent on studies intended to prove it is not harmful, but the fact is that it is toxic and kills plants such as milkweed. I hope your monarch butterflies manage to recover again next year, as it is very promising to hear there has been slight progress.
It seems Roundup is a much bigger problem environmentally since they engineered Roundup-tolerant crops. Now it gets used much more indiscriminately.
A little good news but when will government ever get a move on and listen to the environmental evidence.
Perhaps when they stop listening to the chemical companies.
I’m tired of a govt run by chemical companies! I’ve added as much milkweed as I have space for and will be scattering seeds collected last summer on my next walk. But at least there has been improvement.
We’re a long way from where we should be, but at least there are some positive developments.
I think pesticides are doing even more harm than we know. We have to keep preaching organic and keep planting milkweed! I haven’t seen many monarchs the past few years. Hopefully the upswing will continue.
I have noticed an increase in the number around our garden. I hope you see more this year!
I can leave the exact same comment I left on the last blog I read minutes ago. “I was glad when I first read the news on Monarchs. It is a popular blog subject right now. I have been planting milkweed for years now, not in my tiny garden, but in the parks near my home. I have been getting many monarchs these last two years. I noticed the numbers increase in the last couple of years and I do believe it has to do with so many people and organizations raising Monarchs for release. I am certain that is the reason in our region.” You mentioned pesticides and I fully agree. The problem is far reaching and unlikely to be rectified without company compliance. I feel there is more to the story too. Insects are being deformed and I would bet genetically they are being altered. This will ruin future generations much if true.
I like the idea of spreading milkweed seeds in parks and other open areas.
We can plant milkweed until the cows come home (and I hope we do), but the real battle is with the pesticide manufacturers and our current system of monoculture farming that relies on those pesticides. There’s no a simple fix, but perhaps we’re making progress.
We seem to be making progress on this particular front right now, but I agree we need a whole different regime of pesticide regulation.
Thanks for doing your part to raise awareness. Your photos are divine.
Thanks. They’re Judy’s photos, of course.
Hello Jason, I’m glad there has been an up-turn in the population and I hope it continues. The plight of pollinators, bees in particular, makes me want to chock-fill the garden with flowering plants to create a pollinator haven. I just can’t seem to plant quickly enough and the plants aren’t maturing quickly enough and it feels like a race against time. The garden must be planted, must grow and must expand to support the eco-system and food chain that will bring it to life. It’s early days yet and while there has been tremendous progress on one hand, it still feels far too slow on the other.
I know, I also become very impatient to see my pollinator-friendly plants mature.
It is far too slow, I agree.More individuals should do more in their gardens but governments and business must make major changes.