Western Monarchs Numbers Soar

by Madeline Palaszewski

The number of western monarch butterflies counted in Pismo Beach and Pacific Grove sites is soaring this year. These increased numbers are more than welcome after the population reached an all-time low of 1,914 butterflies last year.

The official count of the migratory western monarchs took place during the 25th annual Western Monarch Thanksgiving Count. According to the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, the final count won’t be out until January but its scientists estimate that over 50,000 individual monarchs returned to their overwintering sites in coastal California.

The low count of fewer than 2,000 monarchs in 2020 followed two years of record lows of under 30,000 butterflies each year. The number counted last year represents a 99.9% decline from the millions of western monarchs that overwintered in California in the 1980’s.

“We are overjoyed that migratory monarch butterflies have not disappeared from the western U.S.,” said Emma Pelton, a senior conservation biologist and western monarch lead for the Xerces Society. “These early counts give us hope that, if we all work together, we can still bring western monarchs back.”

The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation is an international nonprofit organization that protects the natural world through the conservation of invertebrates and their habitats.

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