Monarch butterflies listed as endangered July 2022 - How you can help

The monarch butterfly has just been listed as an endangered species due to the huge population decrease in recent years (source: IUCN ). The decline is due to habitat loss and climate change.

Our area is an overwintering site for the western population of monarchs. During late fall monarchs from as far away as Canada migrate to Central and Southern California for milder climates and winter pollinating flowers. We have three overwintering sites in our area… Wilderness Park, the Hermosa Greenbelt, and around the border of Palos Verdes and Torrance. As you may recall, SBPC attempted to count overwintering monarchs at Wilderness Park last December with the help of the Xceres Society. While we were unable to count any on that day, we hope to make another attempt this December.

SBPC has focused our native habitat projects to include host plants and pollinator plants for both the monarch butterfly and the El Segundo blue butterfly - both endangered species.

There are many ways you can help:

1) Donate to SBPC and our native habitat projects.

2) Volunteer at SBPC events where we clear invasive species and plant California native plants.

3) Convert all or part of your yard to California native plants targeting the Monarch butterfly.

4) If you planted tropical milkweed, tear it out and replace it with California native milkweeds.

So you want to plant your own monarch butterfly habitat?

The best thing you can do is to plant native plants that flower from late fall to early spring to feed the overwintering monarchs.

Here as some example plants for fall, winter and spring blooms:

Fall bloomers: California fuchsia, California goldenrod, coyote brush

Winter bloomers: current and gooseberry, lemonade berry

Spring bloomers: California lilacs, California irises, California lupines, and California sages

If you want to plant host plants for breeding monarchs:

1) Avoid tropical, non-native milkweeds

2) Remove tropical, non-native milkweeds

3) Plant native milkweeds - narrowleaf milkweed grew locally

Why are we so against tropical milkweeds? They are bad for our western monarch population. Tropical milkweeds flower year round while native milkweeds go dormant in late fall. So tropical milkweeds change monarch migration and breeding patterns that are critical to their survival. Also tropical milkweed builds up a spore that kills monarch butterflies.

Additional Resources:
https://www.westernmonarchcount.org/
https://phys.org/news/2021-11-monarch-butterflies-california.html
https://www.monarchmilkweedmapper.org/