{"id":7293,"date":"2020-03-23T19:27:05","date_gmt":"2020-03-23T19:27:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/?p=7293"},"modified":"2020-03-20T17:55:36","modified_gmt":"2020-03-20T17:55:36","slug":"looking-grim-the-western-monarch-migration-is-teetering-on-collapse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/en\/looking-grim-the-western-monarch-migration-is-teetering-on-collapse\/","title":{"rendered":"Looking Grim: The Western Monarch Migration is Teetering on Collapse"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thanksgiving in coastal California has been somber for the past two years.<\/h2>\n

At least it has been for the stewards of overwintering Monarch Butterfly populations. The Thanksgiving Western Monarch Count<\/a> \u2014 a monumental task undertaken along most of California\u2019s coastline by an army of conservationists and volunteer citizen scientists \u2014 tallied fewer than 30,000 animals in both 2018<\/a> and 2019. That is a staggering 99 per cent decline in numbers since the 1980s.<\/p>\n

Scientists with the Xerces Society<\/a> warn that we are at the critical tipping point for losing the Monarch migration west of the Rocky Mountains completely.<\/p>\n

How Did This Happen?<\/h3>\n

Fragmented Habitat<\/h4>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Why such drastic declines in the western population? It is immediately clear using satellite imagery that the remaining wintering sites<\/a> have been severely fragmented by development along the coast.<\/p>\n

In some areas, overwintering Monarchs cling to the branches of the handful of trees left standing in sheltered canyons where rivers empty into the Pacific Ocean.<\/p>\n

Cocktail of Stressors<\/h4>\n
\"Wildfires
Wildfires in California<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Other significant stressors<\/a> on western Monarchs include:<\/p>\n