Just as they have for millennia, monarch butterflies left their summer homes and migrated south to Mexico’s Sierra Madre high elevation forests. They were first seen in northern Mexico on October 20th. Then thousands of monarchs flew another 700 miles south and arrived at El Rosario Sanctuary for Día de Muertos, once again gracing the celebration of villagers who see monarch butterflies as their ancestors’ souls returning to visit.
Unlike the past, however, we now wonder if the monarchs will arrive on time, in what abundance, and if their damaged overwintering sites will still protect them until March when these same butterflies who flew south travel north again. People in the monarch’s summer ranges west of the Rockies also wondered when the warm weather would end and cooler temperatures trigger migration south. Monarchs were seen in Cleveland during the first game of the World Series in late October and others were seen in Ontario Canada this week. None of these is likely to make it to Mexico. Yet it is these tiny insects who stitch together a North American habitat mosaic that extends for 3,000 miles.
When the relatives of these monarchs, several generations past, left Mexico last March they had survived an unseasonal snow storm followed by high winds and cold rain that killed butterflies and toppled their roost trees. During the summer breeding season in the U.S. and southern Canada, conservationists examined the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve for storm and arson damage; considered re-opening a copper mine in the Biosphere; planted reforestation seedlings; finished new tourist facilities where locals can sell food and crafts; and made plans for additional protection of the habitat.
forest and butterfly losses
The shocking winter storm damage to monarchs and their forests came just after Mexico had announced the largest over-wintering population in five years. Ten acres of monarchs reversed population declines of the past, although still far below the nearly 45 acres 20 years ago (the last few years had around 2.5 acres). My story Mexico’s monarchs mostly survive unusual cold storm so far reported initial estimates of habitat and butterfly losses from the snowstorm. The March snowfall came when monarchs had begun to move out of the clusters and migrate north. This exposes the butterflies to freezing. When the snow melts monarchs become saturated, losing body warmth and their ability to fly, thus making them more susceptible to predators.
Only a month after the storm, a forest fire burned 61 acres and thousands of trees. Reports say the fire was arson, set to force the Director of El Rosario Sanctuary (near the village of Ocampo) to allow “salvage” logging of trees knocked down during the storm. Logging even these fallen trees causes additional disturbances of the steep forest slopes and logging that isn’t salvage often occurs during the process as overseeing the entire 200 square mile Biosphere is difficult. Drought killed another 16 acres of trees this year. Illegal logging also damages habitat, although this year’s logging is estimated at 33 acres, one-fourth the losses of the storm. The photo collage below shows scenes from the arson fire.
monarch snow storm mortality estimates
Initial reports following the March snowstorm estimated monarch losses at two to three percent of the overwintering population at El Rosario, the largest of four population areas open to tourism within the Biosphere; four other areas are closed to visitors. Habitat damage was harder to assess and required more on-the-ground and aerial studies.
This summer the actual damage was examined closely and reported to be much greater — killing about seven percent of the estimated 84-100 million butterflies in the Biosphere (a loss of about 6.2 million butterflies). Storm damage to the forest comprised 133 acres of white pine and oyamel fir trees that protect large clusters of overwintering monarchs from temperature and moisture fluctuations. Butterfly population estimates are extrapolated from acreage of roosting trees as counting individual butterflies is impossible. (Read more about the El Rosario Sanctuary. Learn why monarchs need this overwintering habitat.)
illegal logging
Illegal logging is a constant threat to the monarchs, but stems from real problems of local residents who have few other sources of significant income now except for seasonal, tourism-based work. Although Mexico declared the area a protected reserve in 1980, most is still owned privately by 38 villages, 7 indigenous communities and 16 private parties.
In September a special unit of the Mexican police — 220 policeman and 40 forestry inspectors with a helicopter — raided and shut down seven sawmills near Ocampo. They seized 231 cubic feet of wood and estimated that closing these mills saves 116,538 cubic feet of wood annually, the equivalent of 300 logging truck loads. No one was arrested as mill operators ran off before the police arrived, suggesting they had advance warning. In countries like Mexico, local people often know when raids of any kind are approaching. For generations their safety has depended upon being alert. It isn’t that people don’t want the monarchs to survive, it’s that their own lives are hard although their village is in a lovely valley setting below the mountain crest. What is now the Reserve was and still is their land, but now they are restricted in how they use the land.
This raid was the first since Mexico’s government began helping the local caretakers monitor the Biosphere last April. The government police work day and night conducting foot patrols. They are aided by drones and helicoptors when weather permits, but logging often is during rainy season (when the tourism spotlight is off) and at the forest’s high elevations clouds often obscure views. The Biosphere holds 138,379 acres of oak-pine-fir forest habitat sprawled along the mountain crest at 10-11,000 foot elevations, although the monarchs only use a portion of it. The remainder protects the roost tree sites from human impacts and inclement weather.
While the federal police now are guarding the Biosphere, in general the Mexican government is not helping the local people, including those who protect and restore the forests. Caretakers note that the government officials arrive for photo ops to greet important visitors such as representatives from international organizations and then disappear once the event ends. Most of the work to help promote a tourism-based economy is accomplished by locals.
threat of reopening an old mine
As storms, arson fire, and illegal logging raged, mining firm El Grupo Mexico proposed to re-open an old copper mine in Angangueo, below the Sierra Chincua portion of the Biosphere, near El Rosario in Michoacan. The mine closed 25 years ago but owners claim the mine was operating after designation of the Reserve in 1980 because it technically never closed (even though all work ceased), and thus it is grandfathered into the Biosphere.
El Grupo proposes to mine copper, zinc, lead, silver and gold, processing 1,200 tons of ore daily. They claim it will be done in an environmentally sound fashion and will provide well-paying jobs to local residents who admittedly experience economic hardship due to the Biosphere ban on logging. But El Grupo doesn’t have a good reputation for environmental safety. In 2014 one of their mines in Sonora spilled 11 million gallons of toxic chemicals into the rivers and contaminated the water supply for 24,000 people with copper, arsenic, aluminum, cadmium, lead and other chemicals.
The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) filed for the Angangueo mine reopening claimed that mining would have no impact on the monarchs’ habitat. Mexican environmentalist Homero Aridjis disagrees and notes that the old mine has been dangerous even when not in active use.
The EIA was grossly inadequate. There was no prior consultation with affected groups, no public diffusion of information, no evaluation of the hydrologic impacts of the mine and no risk analysis or mention of risks for the human population. The EIA was only for a specific site and not regionally, as is required by law …. In order to extract the resources, mining will extract large volumes of water from the subsoil and expel it outside the area being worked — but there is no mention in the EIA of the substantial impacts of this process.
In 2010, heavy rains lead to disastrous flooding in Angangueo, destroying houses and taking lives. The mine tailings left behind when the mine closed magnified the damage. Residues of arsenic, bromine, lead, barium, cadmium, chrome and mercury have been found in Angangueo’s water, and iron levels in the soil far exceed official norms. The EIA does not evaluate potential levels of toxicity from the production of sulfuric acid.
Others also are suspicious about the environmental safety of reopening the mine.
...the company has been frustratingly vague on some key issues, including how much water and acid will be needed to extract copper, zinc, lead, silver and gold from all that ore, and where the resulting waste will be dumped. Nor has Grupo México fully explained where and how it plans to expand the old tunnel network that snakes beneath nearby mountains — the same mountains where monarchs roost every winter.
María Isabel Ramírez, who studies monarchs at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, notes additional problems.
...the huge volumes of water used by the mine will dry up mountain springs and threaten the viability of the oyamel fir trees where the butterflies roost. “We have many concerns about it,” she said, noting that the firs are already stressed by climate change and illegal logging, which persists despite years of efforts to stop it.
The mine is mostly favored by the Angangueo village government and many of the 5,000 residents due to the jobs and incomes promised. But others note that mines in Mexico never have offered lasting benefits to locals and often result in disasters like the 2010 flood.
International conservation groups such as World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) are conflicted. They have monitoring programs within the Biosphere but depend on corporate donations and agreements with the Mexican government. This leads to tricky relationships. In general, the Mexican government speaks highly of the Biosphere and conservation ideals but in practice not enough actual protection and meaningful conservation results.
“My professional and personal position, W.W.F. aside, is that opening up the mine could have terrible implications ecologically and economically,” said Eduardo Rendón-Salinas, who heads W.W.F.-Mexico’s Monarch Butterfly Program. [...]
“It will provide work for a small group of people, but the cost may not be worth the benefit. We feel strongly that something like this may be catastrophic for the reserve.” [said Felipe Martínez Meza, the acting director of the Biosphere Reserve]
solutions
Local people welcome the monarchs as honored visitors during Día de Muertos ceremonies but during the rest of winter butterflies are less visible in their high elevation forests. Winter is the season when people can earn money through eco-tourism and this income opportunity provides added incentives to protect and restore the overwintering habitat. El Rosario and the other three public santuaries are open to tourism from mid-November until the monarchs leave in mid-March, four months in which to earn a year’s income. After the monarchs and tourists leave, rainy season begins. This year a new building for vendor stalls was constructed and restoration plantings were accomplished. The vendor building provides a dry central area for sales of Michoacan crafts (baskets, textiles, pottery) and foods.
International conservation non-profits such as WWF wish to develop ecotourism, native crafts and other sources of alternate income, including sustainable farming and logging. While official support is promised from the Mexican government, this is primarily conceptual and doesn’t translate into actual funding, programs or cooperation with local people. Most of what has been done in the tourist zones of the Biosphere is due to the dedication of those who live nearby. The image below shows the new El Rosario vendor area and on the terraced slope in the foreground are tree seedlings grown for restoration plantings.
Again this rainy season local people planted 300 hundred thousand tree seedlings (100,000 more than last year) in the El Rosario portion of the Biosphere, sometimes with Mexican government, WWF representatives, and other visitors.
possible outcomes
As long as the monarchs continue their ancient biannual migrations and favorable conditions persist in their summer and winter habitats, eco-tourism can generate a predictable income for local residents. But part of the favorable conditions in overwintering habitat involve assured ease of access to non-profit funding not skimmed by those who do little for the monarchs. The Mexican government and environmental agencies must be sincere in working for the Biosphere’s and villagers’ interests by providing meaningful help and not taking advantage of local people’s efforts. Forest guards, guides, data collection, monarch monitoring, seed collection, nursery cultivation, restoration plantings, and trail maintenance can provide year-round jobs for many people as some activities are during winter tourism and others during summer rains.
Without any government support, 200 local people work at El Rosario to maintain the sanctuary: 87 are guides during butterfly season, 47 offer horse tours, and 60 sell handicrafts and food. Before the federal guards arrived, 10 to 20 villagers were the only forest guards who roamed the sanctuary every day to prevent illegal logging and other destructive activities. These people continue their efforts despite funding obstacles and obstructive government actions.
Without this type of employment, the Angangueo mine is the villagers best hope as they have few other options. Mining as their best hope is the rumor of $8 a day for long hours spent pumping water out of dirty, cramped tunnels. Grupo Mexico already has most of the permits needed to open the mine. This best hope holds the risk of further toxic spills and mine collapses. For the monarchs, this best hope involves tunnels through the mountains under their overwintering forests, mining water demands drying up springs, and waste discharge poisoning the environment.
The people living near El Rosario, Sierra Chincua, and other sanctuaries also see a different hope. They work to improve the facilities for visitors and local vendors, and remind the government officials who visit to keep their promises of help. One different hope is a project from another tourist site in the Biosphere (Cerro Pelon near the village of Macheros in Mexico State) that proposes to train and hire local people as citizen scientists to conduct monitoring and data collection. Butterflies and Their People is a non-profit organization hoping to connect residents with stable full-time employment in the Biosphere.
Working with locals has many advantages. The workers live near their jobs and know the area well (they own it). Their lives have been intimately connected to the monarchs and their habitats for generations. The non-governmental organization hired by WWF to survey the Biosphere and collect data on habitat needs and problems relied on aerial surveys. The little on-the-ground work conducted was done by people unfamiliar with the area and its conditions. By hiring local residents, better quality data will result and, as has occurred in other protected areas in Latin America (for example in Guanacaste Costa Rica), people feel an ownership of the reserve and pride in the natural resources. They can support themselves and their families through conservation and eco-tourism.
But Mexico is only part of the story. All of North America must be involved. The three countries (Mexico, Canada, and the U.S.) plus The Xerces Foundation and Monarch Joint Venture (a collection of 50 conservation, education, and research partners) have joined in the Tri-National Monarch Conservation Science Partnership. Programs are on-going and others are planned to address the many ramifications of monarch conservation throughout their range that extends over 3,000 miles north to south.
Monarchs overwintering in the mountain forests, village people living on the edge of the Biosphere, farmland and other habitat in the northern summer range, and all the areas in between used for breeding, nectaring, and migrating are worth protecting. While climate change is affecting the monarchs, as it affects everyone, the Tri-National Partnership has developed novel and effective programs to address the complex needs of butterflies who weigh only a half gram each. These seemingly fragile monarchs have flown this 3,000 mile trip to and from Mexico for millennia and it is up to us to ensure they can continue.