As monarch numbers continue to decline, California could have a week dedicated to the butterfly’s preservation if a Central Coast legislator’s resolution passes the Senate.
Over the last 25 years, the Western monarch population has declined by at least 80 percent, dropping from what was once 1.2 million to an estimated 233,000 last year—the Pismo State Beach Monarch Preserve saw only 400 of those in November.
Assemblymember Dawn Addis (D-Morro Bay) told New Times she has fond memories of monarch butterflies from her childhood, having grown up near a preserve in Northern California. Then, when she moved to the Central Coast, she took her children to the Pismo State Beach Monarch Preserve.
“I think people go and see them but don’t necessarily know the role that they play within the ecosystem and just how they’re somewhat of a bellwether for what’s happening with the climate and environmental issues,” she said.
That’s when she decided to introduce Assembly Concurrent Resolution 103 to make the week of July 14 to 18 California Western Monarch Protection Week, which passed the Assembly on July 15.
“The resolution is basically to name the week for the monarch butterfly—to raise awareness that way, to put the name of the Central Coast [Legislative] Caucus behind this effort, and then to continue to support ways that we can get the butterfly listed and work in a state, federal partnership to get the butterfly listed,” she said.
In December 2024, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to list the monarch as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act, after it determined that amid decades of habit loss, pesticides, and climate change, the vital pollinator faces a 99 percent chance of extinction by 2080. The listing would designate approximately 4,395 acres of critical habitat for the monarchs in San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Monterey, Santa Cruz, and Ventura counties.
With the required public comments on the matter closed, Fish and Wildlife Service Media Officer Joanna Gilkeson told New Times via email that biologists are currently reviewing the submissions before any decision on the species’ fate is determined.
“We will continue to review and address all public comments received, which will inform a final decision. Protections would not apply until the effective date of the final rule,” she said.
National efforts to preserve the monarch continue, she said, including the Ventura office of Fish and Wildlife Services receiving a $500,000 Installation Resiliency Grant from the Department of Defense in early 2024 to complete butterfly resilience projects on military lands like Camp Roberts and Camp San Luis Obispo, both of which are labeled as high priority monarch butterfly overwintering and breeding zones by the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation.
“So far in 2025, the partners—Monarch Joint Venture, Xerces Society, Environment for the Americas, Upper Salinas Las-Tablas Resource Conservation District, California Conservation Corps, Camp Roberts, and Camp San Luis Obispo—have prepped the sites for restoration by completing prescribed burns and laying down mulch to prevent invasive grasses,” she said. “The California Conservation Corps has also been contracted to head-start nectar plants by growing them in containers from seed so that they’re ready to plant in the fall with a greater chance of success.”
Assemblymember Addis said it’s reaching a “critical point” to take action amid the federal administration rolling back environmental protections and heavily leaning into oil and gas production on land that’s critical for the monarch’s survival.
“Just to link it all back again to the monarch, we know that if we’re not addressing climate change, we are making the existence of monarchs very difficult,” she said, “and so with this resolution, it’s really meant to forward the movement to encourage people to keep pressing forward and hopefully supporting the federal movement to make sure they’re an endangered species and a protected species. … Then, lay a foundation for future years where we can start to allocate more funding if needed for conservation efforts.” Δ
This article appears in 55 Fiction 2025.