Joan Mosenthal DeWind was an early member of the Xerces Society and a keen supporter of getting young people involved in invertebrate conservation. In her memory, her husband Bill DeWind established a student research endowment fund, which is administered by the Xerces Society.
Staff from the Xerces Society and our partners have been keeping close eyes on the imperiled western monarch population at study sites in California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho as part of a multi-year collaborative research project.
September’s featured staff members have been providing Monarch and Pollinator Habitat Kits to select organizations in California, training Colorado Department of Transportation staff on roadside pollinator habitat, and attending the America’s Grasslands Conference, held this year in North Dakota.
These new regulations will make it much harder to protect and recover the animals that are struggling to survive and need our help the most.
Western monarch researchers and community scientists have been busy, contributing information vital to understanding the situation facing this imperiled population.
The Xerces Society is working across the U.S. to conserve this beloved species, and there are a number of ways you can help!
We need all hands on deck this season, to better understand the hurdles facing the imperiled western monarch population!
Helping the monarch back to full health isn’t going to be easy or quick, but together we can transform the landscape to allow the monarch to rebound—and give our children the gift of watching orange wings flap in the sunshine.
The Xerces Society is happy to announce the 2019 DeWind awardees: Niranjana Krishnan, a PhD candidate at Iowa State University, and Molly Wiebush, a master’s student at Florida State University.
While hiking in California and the rest of the West, you can help researchers by submitting any and all monarch and milkweed observations this year to the Western Monarch Milkweed Mapper website.
Xerces Society Endangered Species Conservation Biologist and Western Monarch Lead Emma Pelton recounts her recent experience in Mexico with this photo essay.
Overall, the count data revealed an average decrease of 38% between the Thanksgiving and New Year’s counts.
We urge you to join us and our colleagues in the western monarch science and conservation community in taking meaningful, swift action to help save western monarchs.
The California overwintering population has been reduced to less than 0.5% of its historical size, and has declined by 86% compared to 2017.
What can you do to help the monarch? Protect habitat, avoid pesticide use, plant gardens, and contribute data to Xerces-led community science efforts.
Oklahoma’s impressive butterfly fauna of more than 170 species includes the nation’s largest and the smallest, and representatives of all six major butterfly families.
Instead of rearing—which is risky and unproven in helping monarchs—we should focus on more effective, science-backed ways to conserve these glorious wild animals.
Remembering a ground-breaking monarch researcher, a passionate advocate for monarchs, and a beloved member of the conservation community.
A new guide to protecting the monarch butterfly from the Pacific to the Rockies presents a holistic approach to monarch conservation.
Here are some ways you can work to promote a healthy planet for invertebrates and the people they let share their planet.
Milkweed is in demand, and that demand has been filled in recent years by tropical milkweed, a non-native species. But is planting tropical milkweed potentially doing more harm than good?
The Xerces Society's Western Monarch Thanksgiving Count provides a long-running record of the number of monarchs overwintering in California-including the steep decline of recent decades.
A new study from the USGS, Univ. of Arizona, and partner organizations finds 1.3 additional milkweed stems are needed in the Midwestern U.S. to recover monarch butterfly populations.
A documented 74% decline in the California overwintering population since the late 1990s mirrors the steep decline, estimated at 80–90%, of the number of butterflies in Michoacán over the same period.
For 40 years, the monarch migration phenomena has been recognized as a conservation priority.
Adult monarchs need nectar to fuel them during spring migration and breeding and to build up stores of fat which sustain them during fall migration and winter.
While you may be familiar with the impressive monarch clusters, family-friendly amenities, and helpful docents at Pismo Beach, Pacific Grove, Natural Bridges, and Ardenwood Historic Farm, there are many more places monarchs overwinter along the coast.
Much of the focus on monarch butterflies is on the eastern population. Monarchs in western North America are in greater decline and need conservation help.
