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  • From: Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [permaculture] As Dwindling Monarch Butterflies Make Their Migration, Feds Try to Save Them
  • Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2014 20:59:29 -0400

As Dwindling Monarch Butterflies Make Their Migration, Feds Try to Save Them
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/10/141010-monarch-butterfly-migration-threatened-plan/#

"*How You Can Help Monarchs*

*—Plant locally appropriate species of milkweed* in your garden, on your
farm, or wherever you manage habitat. Try the Milkweed Seed Finder
<http://www.xerces.org/milkweed-seed-finder/> to see if seeds are available
in your area.

Monarch Watch
<http://monarchwatch.org/milkweed/market/index.php?function=show_static_page&id_static_page=1&table_name=vendors>
provides small milkweed plants and resources to find the right species for
your region. It also runs a program, funded by the National Resources
Defense Council, to provide free plants
<http://monarchwatch.org/bring-back-the-monarchs/milkweed/free-milkweeds>
to schools and NGOs."

"Habitat loss and the destruction of native plants have been responsible
for the rapid decline of the monarch butterfly, the most recognized
butterfly in North America. To help protect these majestic insects as they
migrate, citizens in the U.S. are resorting to a simple yet powerful tool:
gardening."

"*—Become a "citizen scientist."* Researchers depend on individuals across
the country to help tag monarchs and to report observations. "That type of
bio-geographical information is really hard for a single researcher or even
a group of researchers to obtain," says Sarina Jepson of the Xerces Society.

Journey North <https://www.learner.org/jnorth/>, founded by one of the
first monarch citizen scientists, Elizabeth Howard, is one place to start.
Or sign up with the Monarch Larva Monitoring Project <http://www.mlmp.org>
and help track caterpillars and milkweed.

Explore more ways to get involved, donate, or get informed with the Monarch
Joint Venture <http://www.monarchjointventure.org/get-involved/>, a
partnership of federal and state agencies, non-governmental agencies, and
academic programs.

If you're in California, the Western Monarch Thanksgiving Count
<http://www.xerces.org/butterfly-conservation/western-monarch-thanksgiving-count/>
is seeking volunteers to monitor overwintering monarch populations west of
the Rockies. And farther south, El Correo Real
<http://www.profauna.org.mx/monarca/> helps track the migration across
northern Mexico with the help of schoolchildren and other volunteers."


Comments:

1) The way to protect monarchs is to outlaw the use of Monsanto's RoundUp
herbicide, which is a potent killer of milkweed, a major food source for
monarchs. The enormous surge in the use of RoundUp on genetically
engineered crops has virtually wiped out milkweed, and as a result -
monarchs, in large portions of the U.S. The reason for the dwindling of
monarchs is obvious and proven - there should be a law to forbid the use of
RoundUp throughout the country. RoundUp's main ingredient, glyphosate, was
first patented as a mineral chelator. It immobilizes nutrients, making
them unavailable for the body. It is also patented as a potent antibiotic
that can wipe out gut bacteria, which is critical to the function of the
immune system. Despite evidence that agricultural chemicals like glyphosate
bioaccumulate in the human body, the EPA recently doubled the amount of
glyphosate allowed in your food. As U.S. citizens, we are not protected by
the USDA or the EPA from the poisoning of our food supply. We must speak
up.

2)Christian Johnson <https://members.nationalgeographic.com/519069903782/>:
We welcome you to visit Save Our Monarchs (www.saveourmonarchs.org), a
newly-formed 501(c)3 non-profit foundation established to bring back our
monarch butterfly. Visitors can order free milkweed seeds directly on our
website! You can also donate to our cause if you wish.

3) Milkweed, and many other "weeds" aka wildflowers and grasses, have given
us the very rich soils we now grow so much of our pesticide-loving corn and
soybeans on. Let's look to studies done at the Leopold Center for
Sustainable Agriculture in Iowa and their STRIPs program, which shows 90%+
decreases in topsoil loss and chemical runoff in ag fields using minimal
strips of prairie. This article fails to focus on the main monarch habitat
for the last summer generation, the northern Plains, and the fact that we
are losing prairie in these regions at rates faster than rainforest
destruction. When we start caring about prairie everything else will fall
in line -- especially pollinators like our 4,000 native bees which provide
superior pollination services over honeybees, and without the dangerous
honeybee monoculture, while increasing seed / fruit yields and quality.
Prairie saves lives.

4) Dan Ashe: <https://members.nationalgeographic.com/624494990949/> First,
thanks Eve Conant and National Geographic! Awesome and inspiring story!!
Second, if you're reading this story, it's because you love nature and you
care about this magical creature. The most important thing for us to do,
right now, is realize and act upon the things we agree about. We agree the
Monarch is in trouble. We agree that we can help it. As a country. As a
government. As a farmer. As a homeowner. As a citizen. And as Director of
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, I'll say, IF and when we decide that
Monarchs need the help of the Endangered Species Act, it will be because
the ESA will help, and it will encourage private stewardship and citizen
science. In the meantime, we intend to join you all in helping to build
momentum and turn this around. We can do this!



  • [permaculture] As Dwindling Monarch Butterflies Make Their Migration, Feds Try to Save Them, Lawrence London, 10/11/2014

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