U.S. wildlife officials announced a decision Tuesday to extend federal protections to monarch butterflies. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plans to add the butterfly to the threatened species list by the end of next year following an extensive public comment period.

 

The Endangered Species Act affords extensive protections to species the wildlife service lists as endangered or threatened. Under the act, it is illegal to import, export, possess, transport, or kill an endangered species. A threatened listing allows for exceptions to those protections.

 

In the monarch's case, the proposed listing would generally prohibit anyone from killing or transporting the butterfly. People and farmers could continue to remove milkweed, a key food source for monarch caterpillars, from their gardens, backyards and fields but would be prohibited from making changes to the land that make it permanently unusable for the species. Incidental kills resulting from vehicle strikes would be allowed. People could continue to transport fewer than 250 monarchs and could continue to use them for educational purposes.

 

The proposal also would designate 4,395 acres (1,779 hectares) in seven coastal California counties where monarchs west of the Rocky Mountains migrate for winter as critical habitat for the butterfly. The designation would prohibit federal agencies from destroying or modifying that habitat. The designation does not prohibit all development, but landowners who need a federal license or permit for a project would have to work with the wildlife service to mitigate damage.