KALAMAZOO (WKZO-AM) — Just when it looked like Monarch butterflies might be making a comeback, a Western Michigan University professor says they have been clobbered by a storm in their winter nesting area.
Dr. Stephen Malcolm said mild weather in the past two years partially rebuilt the population and grew the number of the butterflies in Mexico.
The species has been rocked by harsh winters, assaults on the forest where they spend the winter months and herbicides wiping out milkweed plants.
In a newly-released study by the Scripps Research Institute, scientists say Monarchs that migrate could be virtually extinct in the next 20 years unless the United States and Mexico take serious steps to restore habitats. That means dedicating fields in the United States to growing milkweed plants, and protection of the forests where they stay during winter.
The study says individual efforts to grow milkweed patches along highways and in private gardens have slowed the butterfly’s disappearance, but won’t be enough alone to save them.
