On today’s episode, we talk with Mongabay contributor Martha Pskowski, who recently traveled to central Mexico to report on threats to monarch butterflies in their overwintering grounds.

A large population of monarch butterflies migrates from the United States and Canada to central Mexico every year. Tourists typically arrive in droves to see the butterflies at the reserves set up in their overwintering grounds. Right now is a particularly good time to see the butterflies, as Mexico’s national commissioner for protected natural areas has announced that, after years of declines, the number of monarchs spending their winter in Mexico is up 144 percent from last year.

Scientists have cited a number of reasons why fewer monarchs might have made it to Mexico in recent years, including a more perilous migration route, the eradication of the milkweed the butterflies lay their eggs on in their breeding grounds in the US Midwest, and climate change, which is making milkweed too toxic for monarch caterpillars to eat. Recent research even suggested that at least some monarchs are giving up their migratory ways altogether and joining butterfly populations that are permanent residents of southern Florida.

As Mongabay contributor Martha Pskowski found on her recent reporting trip to two different monarch butterfly reserves in the Mexican states of Michoacán and Mexico, the annual arrival of the monarchs is a major component of the local economy, but the butterflies still face a variety of threats to their survival once they reach their overwintering grounds.

The locals Pskowski spoke with who rely on monarch tourism for their livelihood are members of ejidos, communities in Mexico that collectively own and manage their land. Many ejidos run some type of communal enterprise, such as sustainable forestry operations or ecotourism. In this case, the communities maintain the butterfly reserves. To hear more about ejidos, check out this Mongabay Newscast episode from May 2018, which features the voices of many ejidatarios from Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula.

Here’s this episode’s top news:

• Bolsonaro government reveals plan to develop the ‘Unproductive Amazon’
• Of concrete and corruption: Resistance kills Andes Amazon dams
• After a year of no babies, 3 right whale calves spotted off U.S. coast

Would you like to hear about the Mongabay team’s long list of snake bites, or learn which huge mammal chased our Program Manager up a tree? Have you ever wondered about the origins of Mongabay, and how we got that name? We now offer Insider Content that gives members exclusive access to behind-the-scenes reporting and stories from our team. For a small monthly donation, you’ll get answers to questions like these and support our work in a new way. Visit mongabay.com/insider to learn more and join the growing community of Mongabay readers on the inside track.

If you enjoy the Mongabay Newscast, we ask that you please consider becoming a monthly sponsor via our Patreon page, at patreon.com/mongabay. Just a dollar per month will really help us offset the production costs and hosting fees, so if you’re a fan of our audio reports from nature’s frontline, please support the Mongabay Newscast at patreon.com/mongabay.

You can subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast on Android, the Google Podcasts app, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, RSS, Castbox, Pocket Casts, and via Spotify. Or listen to all our episodes via the Mongabay website here on the podcast homepage.

Follow Mike Gaworecki on Twitter: @mikeg2001

FEEDBACK: Use this form to send a message to the author of this post. If you want to post a public comment, you can do that at the bottom of the page.