BEFORE THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR © Jeffrey E. Belth PETITION TO PROTECT THE MONARCH BUTTERFLY (DANAUS PLEXIPPUS PLEXIPPUS) UNDER THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT Notice of Petition Sally Jewell, Secretary U.S. Department of the Interior 1849 C Street NW Washington, D.C. 20240 [email protected] Dan Ashe, Director U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 1849 C Street NW Washington, D.C. 20240 [email protected] Douglas Krofta, Chief Branch of Listing, Endangered Species Program U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 4401 North Fairfax Drive, Room 420 Arlington, VA 22203 [email protected] Monarch ESA Petition 2 PETITIONERS The Center for Biological Diversity (“Center”) is a nonprofit, public interest environmental organization dedicated to the protection of imperiled species and the habitat and climate they need to survive through science, policy, law, and creative media. The Center is supported by more than 775,000 members and activists throughout the country. The Center works to secure a future for all species, great or small, hovering on the brink of extinction. The Center for Food Safety (“CFS”) is a nonprofit public interest organization established in 1997 whose mission centers on protecting public health and the environment by curbing the adverse impacts of industrial agriculture and food production systems on public health, the environment, and animal welfare, and by instead promoting sustainable forms of agriculture. As particularly relevant here, CFS is the leading nonprofit working on the adverse impacts of genetically engineered crops and neonicotinoid pesticides. CFS and its over half-a-million members are concerned about the impacts of industrial agriculture on biodiversity generally, and on monarch butterflies specifically. CFS and its members have strong interests in the conservation of monarch butterflies that are impacted, directly and indirectly, by harmful agricultural practices. As part of its mission and member interests, CFS’s multifaceted pollinator protection program actively works to reduce the adverse effects of toxic pesticides on important insect and pollinator species, such as monarch butterflies and honey bees. This program utilizes scientific, policy, educational, legislative, regulatory, and grassroots campaigns to spearhead action from government agencies, policymakers, and the public, to protect food security and the environment by requiring robust analyses of these pesticides’ adverse impacts, and suspending or curbing their use as needed. The Xerces Society is a nonprofit organization that protects wildlife through the conservation of invertebrates and their habitat. For forty years, the Society has been at the forefront of invertebrate protection worldwide, harnessing the knowledge of scientists and the enthusiasm of citizens to implement conservation programs. Dr. Lincoln Brower first began studying monarch butterfly biology in 1954 when he was a graduate student at Yale University. He currently is Distinguished Service Professor of Zoology Emeritus at the University of Florida and Research Professor of Biology at Sweet Briar College. His research includes conservation of endangered biological phenomena and ecosystems, the overwintering and migration biology of the monarch butterfly, chemical defense, mimicry, and scientific film making. He has authored and coauthored more than 200 scientific papers on the monarch butterfly. Since 1977 he has been deeply involved with conservation of the monarch's overwintering and breeding habitats. Monarch ESA Petition 3 Submitted this 26th day of August, 2014 Pursuant to Section 4(b) of the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”), 16 U.S.C. § 1533(b); Section 553(e) of the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. § 553(e); and 50 C.F.R. § 424.14(a), the Center for Biological Diversity and Center for Food Safety as co-lead petitioners joined by the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation and Dr. Lincoln Brower hereby petition the Secretary of the Interior, through the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (“FWS,” “Service”), to protect the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus plexippus) as a threatened species. FWS has jurisdiction over this petition. This petition sets in motion a specific process, placing definite response requirements on the Service. Specifically, the Service must issue an initial finding as to whether the petition “presents substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that the petitioned action may be warranted.” 16 U.S.C. § 1533(b)(3)(A). FWS must make this initial finding “[t]o the maximum extent practicable, within 90 days after receiving the petition.” Id. Petitioners also request that critical habitat be designated for the monarch butterfly concurrently with the species being listed, pursuant to 16 U.S.C. § 1533(a)(3)(A) and 50 C.F.R. § 424.12. Monarch ESA Petition 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary 6 Introduction 12 Natural History 15 Taxonomy 15 Description 17 Range 18 Life History 19 Feeding 22 Migration 23 Habitat 27 Population Distribution and Status 33 ESA Protection Is Warranted 44 Threats 45 Factor One: Habitat Loss and Degradation 45 Factor Two: Overutilization 73 Factor Three: Disease and Predation 75 Factor Four: Inadequacy of Existing Regulatory Mechanisms 79 Factor Five: Other Factors Affecting Continued Existence 89 Significant Portion of Range 108 Conclusion 112 Request for Critical Habitat Designation 112 Acknowledgements 113 Works Cited 113 Appendix A: Non-migratory Populations of Danaus plexippus plexippus 147 Appendix B: Proposed Rules to Facilitate Conservation, Science, Citizen Monitoring, and Education 159 Monarch ESA Petition 5 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The monarch is an iconic large orange and black butterfly that is one of the most familiar butterflies in North America. During summer monarchs can be found throughout the United States and southern Canada in most places where milkweeds (Asclepias spp.), their host plants, are available. Each year monarchs undertake a spectacular multi-generational migration of thousands of miles to and from overwintering and breeding areas. Most monarchs east of the Rocky Mountains migrate from southern Canada and the northern United States to the mountains of interior Mexico to overwinter. Most monarchs west of the Continental Divide migrate to coastal California. Monarchs east and west of the Rocky Mountains now face significant threats to their survival in both their summer and winter ranges, and their numbers have declined precipitously in recent years. Overall the North American monarch population has declined by more than 90 percent in the past two decades based on comparisons of the most recent population size estimates to the 20-year average. Numbers of monarchs east of the Rockies have declined by more than 90 percent since 1995; at most recent count, in winter 2013-2014, monarchs east of the Rockies dropped to the lowest number yet recorded, continuing the progression toward declining numbers seen over the last decade. Similarly, numbers of monarchs west of the Rockies have declined by more than 50 percent since 1997. The significant threats facing the monarch are high in magnitude and ongoing. In recognition of the dire status of this symbolic animal, in June 2014 the White House issued a Presidential Memorandum creating a federal strategy to promote the health of honey bees and other pollinators including the monarch. Although this is an important acknowledgement of the large-scale issues that are threatening the monarch, much more tangible action is needed to protect the butterfly and its habitat. Specifically, protecting this iconic species under the Endangered Species Act is a step that should be immediately taken to safeguard and recover the monarch. The Endangered Species Act (ESA) allows species to be listed as “threatened” when they are at risk of becoming endangered in a significant portion of their range. The ESA defines an endangered species as “any species which is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range” and a threatened species as “any species which is likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range.” As applied here, the language of the statute, its legislative history and congressional intent, and the relevant judicial precedent interpreting and applying the statute all make clear that a species need not be at risk of worldwide extinction to qualify for ESA protection. Rather, in enacting the “significant portion of range” provision, Congress intended to provide a means to protect species before they are on the brink of extinction, which is of paramount importance to species conservation. The best available scientific information indicates that the monarch butterfly is threatened in a significant portion of its range. The North American monarch population is significant because without it, the redundancy, resiliency, and representation of the species would be so impaired that the monarch would have an increased vulnerability to extinction. The migratory butterflies in eastern and western North America represent the vast majority of all monarchs in the world. Monarch ESA Petition 6 Though monarchs are found in relatively small, peripheral, and introduced populations in tropical and subtropical locations outside of North America (see Appendix A), these non- migrating populations cannot conserve the genetic diversity and spatial distribution of the species, are limited in population growth potential such that they cannot substitute for the abundance