I’ve missed those gorgeous orange-, black-, and white-winged visitors to my yard. There used to be many, but for years I’d be lucky to see one on their 3,400-mile yearly migration. That’s because the Monarch butterfly has been dying out, thanks, in large part, to logging and herbicides killing off the milkweed they need.
Efforts by the U.S., Mexico, and Canada are starting to reverse that loss of color in our world. We’re planting milkweed along 1000 miles of their migration path. And Mexico is successfully stopping illegal logging on the Monarch reserve, logging that has been destroying the forest that protects those butterflies in the winter.
The progress is encouraging. I look forward to their return to my yard, pollinating my plants and brightening my summer.