Why is this occurring? We don't know for sure, although there are several factors that are likely contributing. Habitat loss due to urban development and large-scale agriculture are key concerns. Farms now cover vast areas and many grow genetically modified crops that allow herbicides to be used on and around the crop, including in areas where milkweed - the one plant that monarch caterpillars need - used to grow. These "Roundup ready" crops are a major cause of milkweed loss throughout the Midwest and are thought to be a key reason for monarch decline. The loss of forest habitat in Mexico and loss and aging of monarch groves in California may also be playing a role. In the West, severe drought is likely contributing to reduced monarch populations. Additionally millions of acres of farms and urban land are also treated with toxic insecticides. All of these are compounded by climate change.

We do not have to sit and watch these declines continue. We can provide the butterflies with high-quality, insecticide-free habitats. This is not something that need be restricted to a distant wilderness, but a cause in which everyone can take part. Homeowners and farmers can plant milkweed (monarchs' host plant) and native flowers, and work to limit the impact of insecticides. Land managers can ensure that large monarch breeding areas are adequately protected. And all of us can vote with our pocket book by buying sustainable, organic, or GMO-free products.

Aldo Leopold wrote in A Sand County Almanac, "One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds." For the sake of the monarchs-and so many other species-it is time to heal as many wounds as possible.