Much-Needed Federal Protection for America’s Beloved Monarch Butterfly Warranted, but Precluded
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agrees that monarchs are threatened with extinction, but does not yet provide the protection that monarchs need to recover.
PORTLAND, Ore.; Tuesday, December 15, 2020—Today, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that listing the monarch butterfly under the Endangered Species Act is warranted, but precluded by other priorities. The monarch was proposed for listing in 2014 through a petition submitted by the Xerces Society and our conservation partners, including Center for Biological Diversity, Center for Food Safety, and the late Dr. Lincoln Brower.
“The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agrees that monarchs are threatened with extinction” said Sarina Jepsen, Director of Endangered Species at the Xerces Society. “However, this decision does not yet provide the protection that monarchs, and especially the western population, so desperately need to recover.”
