Oklahoma Plays A Key Role In Monarchs Becoming a Threatened Species

On Tuesday, Dec. 10, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that it is planning to to add monarch butterflies to the threatened species list by the end of 2025.

Wildlife officials have spent years warning that the monarch populations are shrinking and may not survive climate change. Oklahoma plays a key role in the butterfly's yearly migration, but the change in its vegetation has left the pollinators without any food along its travels.

In the spring of this year, it was announced that the current monarch population was down drastically, and Oklahoma was partly to blame. In an interview from KOCO, this year's monarch numbers were the second lowest in history decreasing by 59.3 percent and was partly "due to the weather conditions in its migration route," which includes Oklahoma for the monarch butterflies' spring and winter migrations.

According to the U.S. Forest Service, in the spring, monarchs return to the United States from Mexico.

And in the fall, monarchs make their way back south. Both times monarchs filter through Oklahoma and along the way they seek out food. And in Oklahoma, their main sources of food, milkweed and wildflowers, is dwindling or non-existent, and this is due to drought and modern landscaping.

Naming monarchs as 'threatened species' will further protect the butterfly.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service intends to add the monarch butterfly to the threatened species list by the end of next year about a public comment period. If named a threatened species, the monarch butterfly would be protected under the Endangered Species Act, which makes it illegal to import, export, possess, transport or kill endangered species. There are some exceptions for threatened species.

But for the monarchs, being listed as a threatened species would mostly prohibit people from killing or transporting the butterfly, exceptions would be accidental kills resulting from vehicle strikes and the transporting of no more than 250 monarchs for educational purposes. As for the vegetation, people would still be allowed to continue to remove milkweed from their yards or farms, but they would not be allowed to make the land permanently unusable for the species.

Here's how Oklahoma can help the monarch population.

There are multiple ways Oklahomans can help the monarch butterfliers during their spring and fall migrations. The best way is to plant milkweed and drought-tolerant native wildflowers. Milkweed is an essential food source for monarch butterflies as it's the only plant they lay their eggs because it's the only plant caterpillars want to eat.

According to the website Okies for Monarchs, "for optimum monarch habitat, plant at least 10 milkweed plants, made up of two or more species, and several annual, biennial, or perennial plants that are in bloom sequentially or continuously during spring, summer and fall."

Oklahoma has several native milkweed plants that can be planted and will benefit the monarchs. Okies for Monarchs has an extensive milkweed guide and details on where to buy milkweed locally and how to build your monarch-friendly garden.