The California Multi-Agency Monarch and Pollinator Collaborative has published a report detailing priority conservation actions and research needs for the western monarch butterfly, capping a years-long, 13-agency effort to address mounting threats to a species that has declined catastrophically in recent years.
“Monarch recovery starts with restoring habitat, expanding native plants and aligning science with on-the-ground action across agencies and partners. This roadmap gives 13 state and federal entities — and the public — a shared path forward to help these iconic pollinators rebound,” said Meghan Hertel, Director of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW).
The report, titled “Conservation Priorities for the Western Monarch Butterfly in California,” lays out five top-priority actions for the next three years.
- Develop common monarch habitat definitions for the west
- Track implementation and success of habitat projects
- Centralize existing pollinator resources
- Improve the availability of native plant materials
- Develop a demographic model to help identify key vulnerabilities in the western monarch life cycle
It also identifies critical knowledge gaps, including the effects of pesticides on monarchs, the effectiveness of conservation strategies on rangelands, and the impacts of wildfire on monarch habitat. The Collaborative calls for stronger coordination with California Native American tribes to advance pollinator conservation across the state.
“The western monarch’s journey is a testament of their endurance. Their survival — as well as other pollinators — requires a collective, persistent effort to turn our landscapes into welcoming habitats,” said California State Parks Director Armando Quintero. “By leveraging shared resources and expertise, we can enhance monarch and pollinator conservation throughout the West Coast.”
The urgency of the statewide plan is reflected along the Santa Barbara County coast, where once-thriving overwintering clusters at Goleta’s Ellwood Mesa have dwindled to historically low numbers.
This season, the highest count at Ellwood was just 20 butterflies in October, when monarchs typically arrive from interior breeding grounds to cluster in coastal groves for the winter. By early March, during the final count of the 2025–26 overwintering season, biologists found only one monarch at Ellwood Mesa.
“This report lays out a roadmap for addressing some of the key challenges for monarchs and other pollinators that we depend on to support our ecosystems and food supply. It is important to see how agriculture can be part of the solution,” said California Department of Food and Agriculture Secretary Karen Ross.
“Pollinators are essential to California grown foods like strawberries, grapes and almonds and agricultural production across the country,” said Paul Souza, Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Pacific Southwest Region. “This report supports voluntary, science-based conservation across the landscape with a variety of partners — from national wildlife refuges and state parks to highways, farms and ranches. We are committed to working with the State of California and local communities to identify innovative opportunities that advance pollinator conservation, including for the iconic monarch butterfly.”
Transportation corridors are among the landscapes targeted for habitat improvements.
“Caltrans’ engagement in the Collaborative and enrollment in the Monarch Candidate Conservation Agreement demonstrates our ongoing commitment to the conservation of monarch butterflies. Caltrans is actively implementing conservation actions that positively impact monarchs and their habitats, ensuring that our efforts contribute to the long-term survival of pollinator species,” said Dina El-Tawansy, Director of the California Department of Transportation.
State leaders say the new roadmap is designed to align science and on-the-ground action across public lands, working farms and ranches, rights-of-way, and community spaces — with a focus on restoring and connecting habitat, expanding native plant availability, coordinating data and resources, and closing research gaps that hinder recovery efforts.
Have you noticed that there are many fewer dead bugs on your windshield than there used to be? (I have, but then I’m a codger). It used to be that you would have to clean your windshield after an hour or two of driving in a rural area due to all the dead bugs. Now you infrequently see dead bugs on your windshield. I attribute that to pesticides. Pesticides are wiping out all insect life, not just monarchs. This reduces bird numbers, too. Wake up, America! We need to cut back on pesticide use!
Interesting, well I got a sh-t ton of bugs on my car driving up and back to Lake Lopez recently. Spent an hour washing ‘em off the grill, bumper, hood, and windshield today.
I planted milkweed in our garden beds two years ago. Easy to grow, but attracted massive amounts of aphids and zero monarchs. I wasn’t expecting much but hey…
I do agree that way too many people use or have gardeners that use pesticides and herbicides.
> I wasn’t expecting much
Perhaps that’s why you didn’t care for those milkweed plants properly.
> I do agree that way too many people use or have gardeners that use pesticides and herbicides.
Yeah, blame the gardeners … how remarkably predictable.
BI Guy with a hyperlocal anecdote, trying to cast doubt on a well-documented global phenomenon.
https://www.livescience.com/animals/insects/insect-apocalypse-is-already-fueling-malnutrition-in-some-regions-first-of-its-kind-study-reveals
Same thing with swarms of bugs (and bats) around streetlights on summer nights.
The present isn’t being discussed as a time of mass extinction for nothing. It all ripples up the food chain to us.
https://groups.io/g/WesternMonarchs/message/599
The report failed to inform the public that the abundance of monarchs at the overwintering groves along the California coast mirrors the abundance of milkweed plants (the sole food source of monarch caterpillars) growing on the wildlands across the West during the spring, summer and fall. And failed to inform the public there has been a huge and ongoing loss of this milkweed abundance across the West over the past 40 years.
The report also failed to inform the public that so few fall migrant monarchs are arriving along the coast nowadays that that about 80% of the coastal overwintering groves are not reliably occupied by clustering monarchs anymore hence there’s not much point in spending alot of money to manage most of them.
Is this situation fixable? No, because in order to halt or reverse the ongoing decline of monarch abundance at the coastal overwintering groves, it would be necessary to halt or reverse the ongoing loss of milkweed abundance on the wildlands across the western States due to human activities such as suburban sprawl, intensified herbicide spraying and mowing practices along roadsides, rail lines, margins of crop fields and irrigation ditches, vacant lots and in farm animal pastures.
For obvious logistical reasons it’s never going to be possible for monarch conservation workers to inventory, monitor and take measures protect even 1% of the remaining 10,000,000’s of stems of milkweed that are still growing on 100,000’s square miles worth of wildlands across the West.
Paul Cherubini
El Dorado, Calif.