Today the CBS This Morning Show featured monarchs and their amazing migration. The encouraging news is that this was a banner year for the monarchs east of the Rockies. The over wintering population covered fifteen acres rather the six last year versus one acre four years ago. The bad news is that we lost 86% of monarchs west of the Rockies. Climate change is one of the driving factors. Drought, intense rain storms, mudslides, and fires in California decimated and/or disrupted the population of many creatures.
The hosts of the show did not notice or mention the deforested areas surrounding the monarchs reserves. Reforestation must continue at an accelerated pace rather than deforestation continuing unabated. It was emphasized on the show that climate change profoundly affected the monarchs and their migration.
Timing is everything for all creatures.
In the meantime, the trump administration is taking by eminent domain The National Butterfly Park & Sanctuary in Mission, Texas so they can bulldoze the habitat to build a wall. The North American Butterfly association established this few hundred acre sanctuary for butterflies and other pollinators over twenty years ago. This science-denying president doesn’t realize he won’t have his chocolate ice cream without pollinators.
