JACKSON, Wyo. — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is reopening the public comment period for a proposed rule to list the monarch butterfly as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) on Wednesday, March 19. The comment period will be reopened for 60 days, until May 19.
According to the USFWS website, monarch numbers in North America have declined over the past two decades, which has caused the agency to go “all in” on monarch conservation.
“Everyone can play a role in saving the monarch butterfly,” the USFWS writes in its press release. “Because of the species’ general habitat use and wide distribution, all sectors of society have an opportunity to participate in a broad range of conservation efforts throughout the butterfly’s range.”
The proposed rule includes species-specific protections and flexibilities to encourage conservation of the butterfly under section 4(d) of the ESA. According to a USFWS press release, the comment period will be reopened in order to give all interested parties an additional opportunity to comment on the proposed rule that was published on Dec. 12, 2024.
Comments that were previously submitted do not need to be resubmitted.
While the University of Wyoming (UW) confirms that there’s very little information about monarchs in the state, researchers have heard for years that they’re common and every county has had observations. Community members are encouraged to submit monarch observations to iNaturalist to assist with UW’s citizen scientist campaign to collect more data on the species.
