Will Monarch Butterflies Bounce Back?

Experts and enthusiasts discuss another year of data. This weekend, a hundred and sixty monarch butterfly experts and enthusiasts from all over the country met in Carmel for the first-ever Western Monarch Summit, to discuss the “state of the western monarch.” The species numbers’ have been on a downward trend since the ‘80s but last winter, monarchs in California made the news because they had a really steep decline in their population, dropping to such low numbers that scientists warned they could go extinct. Everyone has been holding their breath to hear what the numbers are this year. There is good news and bad news.