Monarch butterfly population critically low on California coast – again
Study finds 29,000 butterflies, compared with 4.5 million during the 1980s, as experts point to habitat destruction
“We had hoped that the western monarch population would have rebounded at least modestly, but unfortunately it has not,”
By comparison, about 4.5 million monarch butterflies wintered in forested groves along the California coast in the 1980s. Scientists say the butterflies are at critically low
On the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains, another monarch butterfly population travels from southern Canada and the north-eastern United States across
Pelton said people could help by planting early-blooming flowers and milkweed to fuel migrating monarchs on their paths to other states
“There are still thousands of monarchs [wintering] along the coast, so we can take heart that it’s not too late to act,” Pelton said.