Feds sued over butterfly protections

[bananas]

http://thehill.com/regulation/energy-environment/272583-feds-sued-over-butterfly-protections

Feds sued over butterfly protections

By Tim Devaney - 03/10/16 03:42 PM EST

The federal government is fending off a lawsuit over monarch butterflies.

A group of animal rights activists argues the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) should add the monarch butterfly to the endangered species list.

The Center for Biological Diversity and the Center for Food Safety jointly filed the lawsuit Thursday in federal court, calling on the agency to take steps to protect monarch butterflies from extinction.

<snip>

"The butterfly’s dramatic decline has been driven in large part by the widespread planting of genetically-engineered crops in the Midwest, where most monarchs are born,” the activists wrote.

<snip>

[saturnsring]

1. Monarch butterflies rebounding but population still well off highs

there is some good news you want to help them plant milkweed

supposedly free seeds @
http://www.saveourmonarchs.org/store/c4/Get_Seeds.html?gclid=CjwKEAiA9om3BRDpzvihsdGnhTwSJAAkSewLk6QcI0NuklKxgxtm8am1iVT9XUqxCFNXkBYsZWeIFBoCLQvw_wcB


Scientific name: Asclepias syriaca
Grows in sandy, clayey, or rocky calcareous soils.
Color: Pink
Bloom Period: Summer
Height: 36?-48?
Type: Perennial
Moisture: Dry, Moderate
Sunlight: Full Sun, Partial Shade
USDA Hardiness zones: 4-9
Approximately 86,000 seeds/lb
Approximately 4,000 seeds/oz

Seeding Rate:

1 oz covers 250 sq. ft.
10 lbs/acre

[flamin lib]

2. State and federal agencies are doing what they can to

help the butterflies. Rights of Ways and highways have been seeded with Milkweed all along the migration route. It's working and the size of forest occupied in Mexico has more than doubled in three years (1.7 acres to 2.7, about the size of 20 residential home lots) but is only 1/10th the 28 acres in 2003.

Still, such a dramatic rebound in only three years is encouraging. Plant milkweed anywhere you can! It's not an un-attractive flowering plant in it's own right.

I was unbelievably fortunate to find a resting spot in the Texas hill country back in the early '70s. So many butterflies that branches broke off the trees from the weight of so many tiny bodies. It is not a thing I will ever forget . . .