The federal government will classify the monarch butterfly as “endangered” under the provisions of the Species at Risk Act. This designation opens the door to the protection of green spaces, particularly in the Montreal region, which constitute habitats essential to its survival.
According to information that has just been published in the Canada Gazette, Ottawa will side with the opinion of the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, which recommended in 2016 that the moth receive this designation, the most severe under the Species at Risk Act before that of an “extinct” species in the country.
A 30-day consultation is planned before official designation, which will require the federal government to develop a “recovery strategy” for this well-known migratory butterfly over the next year.
Meanwhile, once the species is officially listed as endangered, the Species at Risk Act (SARA) will prohibit disturbing or killing monarch butterflies, as well as “damaging or destroying the residence of one or more individuals.
The order published in the Canada Gazette specifies, for example, that milkweed plants can be considered as places of residence of the species, since the monarch “depends solely on milkweed plants to reproduce”. Eggs, caterpillars or pupae can be found on this plant when the monarch is in Canada, from June to October. During the breeding season, the destruction of plants would therefore require the issuance of a permit under SARA.
The federal government has already indicated its intention to use the new classification of the monarch to better protect the places it frequents. Several habitats could be designated in Quebec, including possibly the “Champ des Monarques”, land belonging to Aéroports de Montréal and located near the Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau airport.
The organization Technoparc Oiseaux has also been campaigning for several years for the protection of the sector, which was the subject of cuts that mowed down many milkweed plants in the summer of 2022.
butterfly and fish
The director general of the Society for Nature and Parks of Quebec (SNAP), Alain Branchaud, welcomed the decision of the federal government on Friday. “The monarch butterfly’s change in status to endangered is welcome news and will give the government more legal tools to protect the species and its habitat on federal lands,” he said.
Mr. Branchaud adds that Ottawa should also act to avoid the extinction of other highly threatened species in Quebec. “We hope that the government’s enthusiasm for protecting this iconic species will be contagious and will inspire them to take concrete action to protect the copper redhorse, also an endangered species. »
The federal government must decide shortly whether to grant the necessary authorizations under SARA to allow the Montreal Port Authority to destroy critical copper redhorse habitat to build its new industrial port at Contrecoeur.
Monarch without borders
The butterfly’s complex life cycle means that efforts to protect the species must reach beyond Canadian borders into the United States and Mexico.
Adult butterflies that overwinter in Mexico breed the following spring, and the females then lay eggs on a specific plant species, milkweed. Monarchs then migrate north to arrive in Quebec in June, where they also breed. Several generations of monarchs can follow one another before these butterflies reach our regions.
The insect therefore faces multiple threats, including the impacts of climate change. Monarch caterpillars are also particularly vulnerable to habitat destruction.
Monarch populations have plummeted in recent years in North America. The eastern population (which migrates notably to Quebec) has gone from 384 million butterflies in 1996 to about 60 million today; this is an 85% drop. The situation of the so-called “Western” population is even worse: it has gone from 1.2 million butterflies in 1997 to less than 30,000 today.