Date: November 13, 2014
We write to you to express our support to protect the monarch butterfly as a Threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The monarch butterfly population has declined dramatically, by an alarming, statistically significant 90% over 20 years of monitoring. While many factors threaten the monarch’s habitat, it is the loss of milkweed from the key areas where monarchs breed in the American Midwest— primarily driven by extensive use of the herbicide glyphosate on genetically engineered glyphosate-resistant crops—that is thought to be the most significant contributor to the monarch’s population decline. Other contributing factors may include climate change, severe weather events, logging in the overwintering habitat, wide spread use of systemic insecticides, disease, and predation.