Web Page Available on Bt Corn Risk to Monarch Butterflies

[Paul Cherubini]

The size of the monarch migration this fall is above normal
despite GMO crops and heavy mortality of monarchs at the
overwintering sites in Mexico last winter.  

Will evidence like this stop the doomsayers from constantly
publishing newspaper and magazine articles telling us how the monarch
migration could soon collapse due to GMO crops, forest thinning in
Mexico, roadside mowing, urban sprawl, tourist trampling, etc. etc.? 
Not likely.  Nor are we likely to see much national publicity about the
great monarch population recovery of 2001.

Below is Dr. Chip Taylor's description of the monarch
population recovery:

The Great Recovery of 2001 - by Chip Taylor

"Last year was a disaster for monarchs. The spring, summer, and fall
droughts in different portions of the country limited reproduction in
the spring and summer and survival of the migrating population in the
fall. The result was the lowest overwintering population in Mexico
recorded to date - only 28.3 million monarchs. Late in the winter
(early March) severe storms added significantly to the usual
mortality of the overwintering butterflies. Worried about the coming
year I ran a few calculations and estimated that as few as 4.9
million females survived to lay eggs in the southern states in March
and April. I had a hard time envisioning how the population could
recover; however, they did and the overwintering population this year
could be 80-100 million butterflies."

 
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