NFIB-Pennsylvania distributed this article about a recent proposal by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to review the status of the Monarch butterfly for possible protection under the federal Endangered Species Act.

It would be hard for any nature lover not to be troubled by the diminishing monarch butterfly population, but a recent request to have that species listed as endangered by the U.S. government  is being criticized even by adamant butterfly supporters.  

That’s because some believe the ruling would have unintended consequences that threaten the butterfly’s existence even further.

David Folk, an NFIB member, owns a butterfly farm in Nescopeck, Luzerne County.  He started it ten years ago as a direct result of his daughter Kristie’s Future Farmers of America school project and it has grown each year. 

The business’ goal is to raise monarchs to sell for release and improve the butterfly’s habitat, all of which has a positive impact on the local community. 

Folk’s Butterfly Farm supplies the winged creatures to many local schools and offers free community educational programs.  But David Folk says his business, which promotes increasing the count of monarchs, will go extinct if the species is listed as endangered.

If declared endangered, no butterflies would be released by students, garden clubs or citizen scientists because it would be illegal for humans to have contact with the monarch. 

Those who’ve asked the government to list the monarch as endangered say students should just collect eggs or larva from the wild, which would highly limit classroom opportunities to learn about butterfly life cycles and metamorphosis and stop the student’s release of those butterflies.  

It is generally agreed that herbicides are partially responsible for a decline in milkweed, the only food eaten by the monarch caterpillar, which is contributing to the butterfly’s disappearance.  Farmers growing corn and soybeans now primarily use genetically altered varieties which are herbicide tolerant but the herbicide kills off milkweed.

If the monarch is listed as endangered, restrictive land use controls would be placed on land where milkweed grows, which could economically paralyze farmers.  That could create an incentive to quickly kill off any milkweed before the butterfly is declared endangered to avoid government controls on private land, which would hurt the survival of the monarch butterfly even further.

David Folk believes the solution is a nationwide effort to plant milkweed, not listing the species as endangered.  The group Monarch Watch is encouraging the planting of milkweed with funding from the Fish and Wildlife Service as well as private concerns. Farmers are also planting buffers with milkweed to help the effort. 

Interestingly, the latest 2015 annual butterfly count shows an increase from 34 million to 56.5 million. Whether that’s due to better weather, or the planting of milkweed isn’t clear.

It’s worth noting that the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee recently released a report questioning the impartiality and accountability of the process used by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to determine what species are listed as endangered. 

Pennsylvania Rep. Glenn Thompson has introduced a bill that would require strong scientific proof that restricting a species habitat will make a difference in its welfare and it asks the economic impact be considered.

2/9/2015