Las mariposas monarca podrían estar en la lista federal de especies en peligro de extinción a finales de año. Las monarcas orientales que se encuentran en Nueva York y otros estados del noreste experimentaron una disminución de la población del 80% entre la década de 1980 y 2020. Sus contrapartes occidentales han experimentado una caída de la población del 90%. Los grupos ambientalistas solicitaron que se las incluyera como "amenazadas" en 2014, y la mariposa monarca se convirtió en una especie candidata en 2020. Rebeca Quiñonez-Piñón, de la National Wildlife Federation, dice que las mariposas monarca enfrentan muchas amenazas.

"Las principales amenazas que hemos identificado para la mariposa monarca son la pérdida de hábitat y la fragmentación de los hábitats restantes. El cambio climático encabeza la lista, sin duda, y el uso excesivo de pesticidas," expresó también Quiñonez-Piñón.

Ella llama a las mariposas monarca un "canario en la mina de carbón" para los polinizadores y el ecosistema, una advertencia de que es necesario hacer más para ayudar al medio ambiente. Una docena de especies de abejorros también son candidatas según la Ley de especies en peligro de extinción. También son víctimas de las mismas amenazas de las mariposas monarca.

Los jardineros domésticos pueden contribuir a ayudar a las poblaciones de mariposas monarca, plantando algodoncillo y varas de oro, que son útiles para la especie. El algodoncillo es la única planta que las orugas de la mariposa monarca pueden comer y sobrevivir. Mary Phillips, también de la National Wildlife Federation, agrega que hay algunos errores que la gente comete al tratar de ayudar a las monarcas a prosperar.

"No te preocupes si ves los distintos depredadores. También hay un insecto del algodoncillo que a veces aparece en estas plantas. La gente se pone nerviosa por eso. Está bien, es natural, desaparecerá; no dañará el algodoncillo en general," insistió además Phillips.

Agrega que otro error común es rociar pesticidas sistémicos o de jardín que pueden dañar a las monarcas. Algunos estados están tomando medidas para poner fin al uso de ciertos pesticidas dañinos para las abejas, las mariposas y otros polinizadores. Nueva York aprobó una ley que prohíbe algunos usos de los neonicotinoides debido a sus efectos nocivos para los polinizadores y otras especies.

The United States has a national mammal, tree and flower but the status of America's most treasured bird was not always so clear officially or ecologically until now.

Last week, the bald eagle officially became the national bird of the U.S. More than 50 years ago, pesticide use had decimated bald eagle populations. Researchers recorded the lowest number of nesting pairs in 1963, at just 417.

Aimee Delach, senior policy analyst at Defenders of Wildlife, said pesticides like DDT worked their way up the food chain in a process known as biomagnification.

"A species like a bald eagle, which eats a lot of fish, they're essentially getting a dose from everything that those fish have eaten in their lifetimes," Delach pointed out. "Biomagnification is why these pesticide issues show up worst in some of the 'top of the food chain' animals, like bald eagles."

Delach noted pesticides interfered with the bald eagle's calcium levels, which caused eggshells to be weak and less likely to hatch. The federal government banned the use of DDTin 1972 and a conservation law brought the bald eagle back from the brink. In 1973, Congress passed the Endangered Species Act and ever since, bald eagles have made major rebounds.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates the bald eagle population now stands at more than 300,000. Many people assume the bald eagle has always been our national bird but while it has been a symbol on our country's seal for centuries, it had never been officially designated.

Delach added the decision is long overdue.

"It's really fitting that the bald eagle be our national bird," Delach asserted. "There are almost 70 species of eagle across the world but the bald eagle is the only one that's found only in North America. So it really is our national bird, as far as its territory and range."

The Endangered Species Act will celebrate its 51st anniversary Saturday.

The federal Department of the Interior has awarded the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission more than $800,000 for recovery efforts for American martens, Wisconsin's only state endangered mammal - that many people have never heard of.

Martens have been trapped for their fur for various purposes. Jonathan Pauli is a professor of forest and wildlife ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

He said silvicultural practices and logging within local national forests altered martens' preferred habitats.

"This work is really trying to understand how do we manage habitat in a meaningful way," said Pauli, "on these working landscapes, to increase marten habitat, and connectivity of these different subpopulations, to ensure martens are here for the foreseeable future."

Pauli said the grant money - from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation's America The Beautiful Challenge - will bring together a diverse group of folks from the federal, state, tribal, and academic levels over four years. They'll create a forest management proposal - with recommended habitat improvements for marten recovery in Wisconsin.

The project will also include training for future biologists and ecologists.

In the 1930s, martens were considered regionally extinct. A series of regional reintroduction efforts has spanned nearly 60 years.

Pauli said martens play important cultural, economic, and ecological roles - including the ability, as predators, to keep rodent populations at bay that are important carriers of diseases such as Lyme's Disease.

Martens are also good dispersers of seeds for foods such as blueberries, and are culturally significant to the Ojibwe or Chippewa people.

With varying degrees of chestnut brown furs, they have distinct golden throats and are the size of a cat, with semi-retractable claws that help them navigate through forests and snow.

"They actually live and hunt underneath that snowpack," said Pauli, "that they can slink in and out from underneath the snow where they can hunt all the mice that are living underneath the snow - and then pop up out of the snow bank. And they have big feet like snowshoe hares, almost, where they can surf on top of the snow."

Pauli said it's a real treat when you actually get to see one because they are so rare and cryptic.

For the first time in a century, martens were spotted this year on Lake Superior's Madeline Island in northern Wisconsin.

Ecology experts say this gives them hope for a positive recovery trend for the rare mammal.




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The southern Appalachian Mountains, known as the salamander capital of the world, are home to some of the most distinct wildlife in the country but Hurricane Helene's strong winds and flooding have left a trail of destruction across Western North Carolina.

Communities and businesses are working to recover and conservationists are raising concerns about how the storm has affected endangered species.

JJ Apodaca, executive director of the Amphibian and Reptile Conservancy, said one species in particular, the hellbender salamander, has suffered greatly.

"Hellbenders are a large aquatic salamander and several of those have been found dead across the region," Apodaca reported. "You can just imagine that something that's two feet long and doesn't really swim that well can't really escape the devastation."

Apodaca described the damage to habitats such as the Hickory Nut Gorge as catastrophic. He noted entire slopes and hillsides of trees have been wiped out, resulting in a complete loss of habitat for many species. While conservationists are still assessing the long-term effects, he stressed the outlook raises serious concerns for the future of the ecosystems.

Dalton George, national grassroots organizer for the Endangered Species Coalition and mayor pro tem of Boone, emphasized the importance of prioritizing wildlife and environmental health during recovery efforts. He pointed to greener infrastructure as a solution, prioritizing designs allowing wildlife to move freely, protecting clean water and managing stormwater effectively. He said the steps are essential to balancing recovery with long-term sustainability.

"With salamanders, with wildlife, here in the Appalachian Mountains, they need those protections now more than ever as we see the impacts of climate change and the extinction crisis happening globally," George asserted.

George highlighted the importance of the Endangered Species Act as a critical tool for preserving wildlife and their habitats. However, the act has faced repeated attacks in Congress. Conservationists say continued public support and advocacy are key to ensuring it remains a strong safeguard for the region's wildlife and ecosystems.


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