By TIM ALEXANDER

Illinois Correspondent

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Since their yearly migration to central Mexico from the United States began in August, the conservation, education and celebration of the monarch butterfly has been in the American spotlight.

Always on the move, monarchs migrate along the same route in search of the right plants at the right time to sustain their nearly three-month journey of 3,000 miles across the North American continent. Development, agriculture and invasive plants have led to recent declines in the milkweed plants monarchs and other pollinators count on for nectar, however.

Monarch populations are said to have decreased by as much as 80 percent in the U.S. due to the virtual disappearance of milkweed essential to monarch larvae survival and natural habitat. The annual migration of the monarch is under greater scrutiny than ever before, with butterfly populations closely monitored by governments, nature groups and environmentalists.

The 2017 monarch migration reached its yearly climax when the first roosts – or large groups – of the insects arrived at one of the 12 mountaintop sanctuaries located in the heart of Mexico on Oct. 30. In Illinois, monarch roosts were reported as early as Sept. 10, in Clinton, and as late as Oct. 15, in Tolono.

The first waves of monarchs reached Texas around Oct. 24 and arrived in Mexico, as expected, in time for the nation’s annual Day of the Dead celebration. Early reports from Mexican observers were not encouraging, with sighters in the pathway reporting large roosts numbering in the hundreds, not thousands, according to some websites run by groups of volunteer trackers.

However, large groups of monarchs were still being reported as far north as Canada and as far east the Atlantic Ocean, and by the time the black and orange butterflies arrived in Santa Catarina and Monterrey, Mexico, on Oct. 29, they numbered in the thousands, according to witnesses.

“I have not seen such a massive arrival in years,” said Mexican educator Estela Romero, who took her students to a wooded area on a hillside in El Cerrito to observe the migration, in a blog post.

Though no official Mexican government estimates of monarch migration numbers have been released for 2017, statistics show that American farmers, farm organizations and rural landowners have assumed significant roles in the butterfly’s comeback. In agriculture, a variety of available practices and resources from the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) offer producers choices for helping monarchs, while addressing other natural resources concerns on their land.

NRCS and conservation partners are working with producers to develop property-wide or site-specific plans and develop lists of ideal plant species for use in conservation practices for monarchs. Working alongside state biologists such as Jennifer Anderson-Cruz from Illinois NRCS, farmers and rural landowners develop strategies that could include contour buffer strips, critical area plantings including milkweed and other monarch nectar plants, brush management, conservation cover or other techniques.

Through the farm bill, producers can enroll in NRCS conservation programs like the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) and Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP), which provide financial assistance to help cover the cost of implementing recommended conservation practices.

In total, NRCS offers more than three dozen conservation practices that can benefit monarchs and other pollinators through the establishment of milkweed and high-nectar plants, combined with protection from exposure to pesticides.

“Two-thirds of the continental United States is privately-owned, and producers can play a crucial role in helping recover the monarch,” NRCS staff wrote in an October press release. “America’s farmers, ranchers and forest landowners are voluntarily combating the decline of monarchs by adding and maintaining high-quality monarch habitat on their land.”

NRCS’ effort is part of a multi-agency strategy to reverse the decline of the monarch in North America, where populations have decreased from an estimated 1 billion in 1995 to approximately 34 million today. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources (DNR) works with public and private landowners to implement projects to increase pollinator habitat.

During the Illinois State Fair, DNR’s education division distributed free packages of common milkweed seeds to families at Conservation World. DNR also distributes educational materials to schools, libraries and universities, and conducts educator workshops on pollinators and monarch butterflies. In addition, the agency was host to the 2016 Illinois Monarch Butterfly Summit.

Urban communities are also doing their part to restore monarch and pollinator habitat. Through the Urban Monarch Conservation Initiative, scientists developed a set of tools being used by four metropolitan pilot areas – Austin, Chicago, Kansas City and Minneapolis-St. Paul – to create pollinator habitat for monarchs in urban settings.

The Tallgrass Prairie LCC, in partnership with the Keller Science Action Center at Chicago’s Field Museum, developed a guidebook as part of the initiative that offers urban planners best management and strategies for creating monarch habitat.

Conservation practices that benefit monarchs also help honeybees, native bees and other pollinators that produce an estimated $15 billion worth of crops annually, according to USDA, including more than 130 fruits and vegetables.