Madison, Wisconsin.. President Donald Trump’s administration has postponed a decision on whether to extend federal protections to monarch butterflies indefinitely despite years of warnings from conservationists that their numbers are shrinking.
US Fish and Wildlife Service Announce During the final days of former President Joe Biden’s term in December 2024, the agency planned to add the beloved backyard pollinator to its threatened species list by the end of 2025, calling the insect “iconic” and “treasure throughout North America.”
But the Trump administration quietly included these efforts as “long-term action” in a September report on the status of federal regulatory initiatives issued by the Office of Management and Budget. The designation does not mean the administration prevented the Fish and Wildlife Service from making a decision, but it will not come during the year that began in September.
“The Administration remains committed to a regulatory approach that is transparent, predictable and grounded in sound scientific foundations,” an agency spokesperson wrote in an email to The Associated Press on Friday. “Any listing must follow the Endangered Species Act’s (Endangered Species Act) statutory requirement that designations be based on the best available scientific and commercial data. At the same time, the Department continues to emphasize voluntary and local conservation as a proven tool to support species and reduce the need for additional federal regulation.”
No one at the agency immediately returned follow-up emails inquiring about the specific rationale for the delay. The first Trump administration named King a nominee for the listing in December 2020. His second administration has made oil and gas production a primary focus and is working to strip environmental regulations that hinder development.
In November his management moved to Undo the blanket protection For threatened animals and plants, requiring government agencies to draft species-specific rules instead, a process that can be lengthy. Other proposals call for bypassing species protections through logging in national forests and public lands.
The Center for Biological Diversity and other conservation groups began pushing for federal protections for the butterfly in 2014, petitioning the Fish and Wildlife Service to list the insect. The center filed a lawsuit in 2022 to force the agency to make the listing decision.
Tierra Curry, the center’s associate director of endangered species, said Friday that she was not surprised that the Trump administration delayed the decision. She said it could take more than a decade to list the species. For example, the Miami blue butterfly was finally listed as endangered in 2012 after waiting on the list since 1984, she added. The Dakota skipper butterfly became a candidate in 1984 but was not listed as endangered until 2014, she added.
She said that determining the long-term measure does not mean the end of the protection of monarchs, but it puts them in a “bureaucratic bind.”
“It’s quite disappointing because the Kings need all the help they can get,” Curry said.
Monarchs are found throughout North America. Known for their distinctive orange and black wings, they are a symbol of sunny summer days.
But ecologists have warned that monarch numbers are shrinking due to climate change and rural development. Fish and Wildlife Service experts said when they announced in December 2024 that they plan to list the butterfly. Monarchs east of the Rockies have a 57% to 74% chance of extinction by 2080. Monarchs west of the Rockies have a 95% chance of becoming extinct by then.
The monarch list proposal would generally prevent people from killing or moving the butterfly. People and farmers can continue to remove milkweed, a major food source for monarch caterpillars, from their gardens, backyards and fields, but they will be prohibited from making changes that would make the land permanently unusable for these species.
People can continue to transfer less than 250 properties and can continue to use them for educational purposes.
The proposal would also designate 4,395 acres (1,779 hectares) as critical habitat in seven coastal California counties where monarchs migrate west of the Rocky Mountains for the winter. The designation would prevent federal agencies from destroying or modifying this habitat. The designation does not ban all development, but landowners who need a federal license or permit for a project must work with the Wildlife Service to mitigate damage.