Campaign to Save Monarchs' Mexican Habitats Now
The habitats of the monarch butterflies in Mexico are under severe threat from illegal logging. I ask each of you reading this to send a polite letter to the new President of Mexico, Felipe Calderon, to ask for his help in protecting the Monarch Butterfly Bio-Reserves. You can write to him at:
Presidente Felipe Calderon
Oficina de la Presidencia
Residencia Oficial de los Pinos
Col. San Miguel Chapultepec
11850 Mexico D.F.
Mexico
ILLEGAL LOGGING IN MONARCH BIORESERVE IN CENTRAL MEXICO
I am writing this as someone who has been visiting the area almost every year since 1977 when I was the first woman from the U.S. to seek out and find the monarchs in Mexico. Illegal logging has been going on through the years, but has recently accelerated, until now it is totally out of control. There is great concern that this unique phenomenon of migrating monarchs, one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, could disappear in a very short time unless immediate action is taken.
I am involved with reforestation efforts through La Cruz Habitat Protection Project, which has planted over 4.5 million trees in and around the Monarch Butterfly Overwintering Bioreserves over an 13 year period. Another 500,000 trees will be planted this summer. The cost: 50 cents per tree; tree survival rate: 80 percent. Full documentation of the planting sites are available from the LCHPP website www.lchpp.org
In regard to the current situation, the monarchs' overwintering habitats are severely threatened.
The out of control illegal logging is being perpetuated by organized mafia. The local people are afraid of these gangs. There are hundreds of trucks laden with illegal wood from many areas of the Bioreserves leaving nightly. Witnesses have seen the illegal loggers being escorted by local police. When the Mexican government declared that it had stopped the trafficking by seizing 380 trucks last year, that is a mere drop in the bucket.
Without the forests, not only will the monarchs disappear, but the sources of water for all the local communities will disappear, as will other flora and fauna. More mudslides will destroy more homes. When I last visited, illegal loggers were cutting trees right the middle of the monrchs' habitat. Our guide immediately told us to put away our cameras as we and the illegal loggers melted into opposite sides of the forest. Recently, someone took pictures of the illegal loggers and was beaten up.
The mayor and the villagers of Angangeo were on national television pleading for help in 2005 and they are still waiting for the situation to be controlled.
The mafia logging operation is out of control and must be stopped. The local officials are either corrupted or rightfully afraid for their lives. This must be coordinated at the highest level of government.
More studies can be called for. The Mexican government can continue to issue proclamations. But something must be done now, or the habitats in Mexico will no longer support and protect the migrating monarchs. Dr. Lincoln Brower has excellent documentation on deforestation in the area and how it has accelerated.
Remember, the habitats are at altitudes of 8,000 to 12,000 feet. Contiguous forest canopy regulates the micro climate and protects the monarchs from rain and moisture. The pine and fir needles repel water, thus offering shelter from the storms. When the temperatures drop overnight and there is a frost, wet monarchs become dead monarchs.
On one of my visits, about twenty years ago, there was a widespread snowstorm in the high mountains of Cerro Pelon where there was some monarch mortality. The forest canopy was more intact, and yes, there were dead monarchs, but nothing in comparison to the storm a couple of years ago, when I stood knee high in dead monarchs, nor the two storms this past January and February.
Karen Oberhauser's study on the effect of global warming on climatic changes indicates that there will be more rain in central Mexico, extending beyond the usual rainy season, as has been evidenced the past few years. More rain and less trees means trouble for the monarchs.
According to Mexican native tradition, the butterflies are the old souls returning to sacred mountains. These sacred mountains are being destroyed by powerful gangs.
An effective public pressure can be put on the Mexican government to stop the illegal wood traffickers that the Mexican press has called as strong and fierce as the drug traffickers. A world without butterflies, would be a world without hope. Help stop the destruction before it is too late.
No action means destruction. The illegal rape of the land must be stopped. Sustainable reforestation must proceed. I know that La Cruz Habitat Protection Project will continue to plant healthy trees that have an excellent chance of surviving and thriving. Millions more trees are needed.
Thank you.
Maraleen Manos-Jones
Cerro Pelon Monarch Sanctuary
Cerro Pelon Monarch Sanctuary
Cerro Pelon Monarch Sanctuary