"My takeaway from this story is that all of us need to rethink using chemical pesticides at our homes and businesses. Even so-called organic pesticides like Bacillus thuringiensis, or BT, are highly toxic to monarchs and other butterflies.”—Pam Marino / @pammarino, #MontereyCountyNow https://www.montereycountynow.com/blogs/opinion_blog/monarchs-face-an-uphill-battle-for-their-survival-it-s-up-to-us-to-help/article_cf7fe0b8-e8d8-11ef-b7c8-9f30411eb64b.html#tncms-source=mosaic

#butterflies #MonarchButterflies #XercesSociety #MontereyCounty #MonarchSanctuary #PacificGrove #EnvironmentalProtectionAgency #EPA #CaliforniaDepartmentOfFishAndWildlife #CDFW #USGeologicalService #insecticides #fungicides #herbicides #PyrethroidInsecticides

#NationalButterflyCenter Gets Reprieve—But #BorderWall Will Impact Much More

By Scott Hoffman Black on 15. February 2019

"There are many reasons to oppose the wall along the southern border—including the loss of habitat for some of our smallest and most important animals.

"The building of a wall along the United States–Mexico border has become a topic of debate, in both private and public spheres. The majority of Americans (58%) oppose the border wall for a variety of social, economic, and environmental reasons. Political disputes over border wall funding also led to the record-breaking 35-day government shutdown from December 22, 2018 to January 25, 2019—which negatively affected hundreds of thousands of people and the services of several federal agencies—and still rumble on within Washington, D.C., as this blog is published. All of these are significant concerns, but as a conservation organization, the Xerces Society’s focus is on the border wall’s environmental implications.

"Recently, debate about the potential environmental impacts of the border wall has been in the spotlight because construction would impact the National Butterfly Center, near Mission, Texas. The #XercesSociety opposed putting the wall across the Center, and joined in calling for the federal government to reconsider moving forward with construction. The good news is that the Center appears to have a reprieve: The government funding bill approved by congress includes a ban on building the wall through several sites in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, including the National Butterfly Center."

https://www.xerces.org/blog/border-wall-impacts

#MonarchButterflies #EndangeredSpeciesAct #EndangeredSpecies #MonarchButterfly #NoBorderWall

1/ It's Pollinator Week, and time for the topical memes I created. But before we get into that, I want to share this excellent publication released just last week by the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation ("Xerces)":

Why Getting a Hive Won't "Save the Bees"
https://xerces.org/sites/default/files/publications/22-011.pdf

PDF, 8pp, the last of which is a full page of References.

#Bees #Conservation #Honeybees #Pollinators #PollinatorWeek #Xerces #XercesSociety #Ecology #BioDiversity #Agriculture

cc: @darwin

A team of #MastersStudents at #UniversityOfMichigan School for #Environment & #Sustainability raising #awareness for #pollinator #conservation & enhance pollinator #habitats on campus.

The University was officially #designated a #BeeFriendly #campus in December by #BeeCampusUSA, an #initiative of the #XercesSociety for #Invertebrate #Conservation which #recognizes #colleges & #universities practicing #sustainable #PollinatorConservation across the country.

https://www.michigandaily.com/research/the-latest-buzz-umich-designated-bee-friendly-campus/

#ProtectBees