More Monarch Butterflies is Good

2025: Year of The Monarch Renaissance?

You would have no way of knowing this, but we grow milkweed in our Los Angeles front yard. So my family and I are taking a little credit for today’s good thing.

Huzzah! The eastern monarch butterfly population has exhibited a remarkable resurgence, nearly doubling its presence in the central Mexican forests. Every year the butterfly numbers are tallied and the most recent finding is that the Mexican forest area occupied by these magnificent insects expanded to 4.42 acres—a substantial increase from the 2.22 acres documented during the previous winter.

The Mexican forest is the ending point of the monarchs' fall migration (it starts, early autumn, from breeding grounds in southern Canada and the northern United States.)

The North American Monarch Butterly Migration Path

The rising numbers, are definitely cause for optimism, but probably should be contextualized as monarch populations remain below long-term averages. That said, Jorge Rickards, director general of WWF Mexico, hits the right note with this quote:

“It's now time to turn this year's increase into a lasting trend with an all-hands approach."

What is behind this population growth? Scientists attribute it mostly to the weather, primarily diminished draught conditions along the migration corridor.

Add to this considerable forest protection efforts which have yielded a 10% reduction in forest degradation within the core zone of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve.

What this means is that the arriving monarchs can find shelter from adverse weather conditions and more food and water. This abundance extends to the nearly 6 million (!) residents of the Reserve; 132 bird species, 56 mammalian, 432 different plants, and 211 species of mushrooms.

The annual monarch migration stands as one of nature's most astonishing phenomena: these delicate creatures traverse nearly 3,000 miles from Canada and the northern United States to Mexico. Following winter, they navigate an additional 600 miles northward, depositing eggs on milkweed plants and completing their eight-month life cycle.

The monarch's 2025 recovery offers compelling testament to natural resilience when afforded appropriate protection and opportunity.

Protection and opportunity. Together quite a good thing.