SAN DIEGO
MONARCH INITIATIVE

The San Diego Monarch Initiative will aid the repopulation of the North American monarch butterfly in the southern California region. Biologists have recorded dangerously low counts since 2018 with a particular sharp decline in recent years; numbers have dropped from 4.5 million in the 1980s to a record low of fewer than 2,000 last winter during their annual migration, representing a staggering 99% decline. One of the main challenges monarchs face today is the destruction of their native habitat, a driving force of their near extinction status, along with the use of toxic herbicides.

Considering that the native habitat and food source of the North American monarch, commonly known as narrowleaf milkweed (A. fascicularis), has also experienced significant decreases, migratory routes across the U.S. have dwindled significantly. Without the native milkweed species that hosts the caterpillars prior to their transformation into butterflies, the monarch population has limited opportunities to flourish. This is precisely why we are choosing to make it our target in order to assist the restoration of the native ecosystem for the monarch population to thrive. 

The North American monarch was recently enlisted as “endangered or threatened” under the Endangered Species Act by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on December 15, 2020. Although California conservationist groups have made recent efforts to mitigate this issue, we are calling on the general public to become active participants in our efforts to widen this cause.