McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) — Recent findings from an annual survey conducted by both the United States and Mexico reveal that monarch butterflies, during their cross-border migration, are struggling due to insufficient habitat, posing a risk to their survival.
In a live segment titled “Environmental Concerns on the South Texas Border,” Border Report highlighted these pressing issues.
A Monarch butterfly pauses in a field of Goldenrod on Sept. 11, 2020, at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pa. (AP File Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
The latest census, released on Tuesday by the World Wildlife Fund-Telmex Telcel Foundation Alliance and the National Commission of Protected Natural Areas in Mexico, showed a small uptick in monarch populations over the past year. However, conservationists emphasize that the available land is still inadequate for these butterflies to thrive and sustain their numbers.
This year, the survey recorded 7.24 acres of habitat occupied by monarchs, marking a 64% increase from last year’s 4.42 acres. Despite this improvement, scientists from the Center for Biological Diversity caution that at least 15 acres are necessary to keep these migratory pollinators from facing extinction in North America.
“Monarchs need our support, and in turn, we need them because they are both magnificent and irreplaceable,” stated Tierra Curry, the Center for Biological Diversity’s endangered species co-director. “Allowing their incredible migrations to disappear due to a lack of comprehensive protection would be an inexcusable failure.”
At the end of summer eastern monarchs fly from the northern United States and southern Canada to overwinter together in high-elevation fir forests in Mexico. The population size is determined by measuring the area of trees turned vivid orange by the clusters of butterflies.
The monarch butterfly migration on Thursday, Oct 23, 2025 in Ozona, Texas. (Hannah Harrison/Texas A&M AgriLife Courtesy Photo) In December 2024, under the Biden administration, monarchs were proposed for Endangered Species Act protections. However the Trump administration delayed the decision to list the insect as endangered, as a “long-term action” with no definitive date set.
The Center for Biological Diversity and the Center for Food Safety in February sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to force officials to set a binding date on whether the insects are to be listed as endangered, or not.
“The Trump administration has to think twice about letting these iconic butterflies collapse toward oblivion,” Curry said.
The number of monarchs have shrunk dramatically since the 1990s.
Monarch butterflies west of the Rocky Mountains overwinter mostly on the central coast of California. The western migratory population is down more than 95% since the 1980s and numbered less than 12,260 butterflies this winter, the third lowest count on record, the Center for Biological Diversity says.
A government study by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from December 2024 estimates the insects could be extinct by 2080.
A December 2025 report by by the University of Georgia and Emory University says rising temperatures could be making monarchs more prone to disease.
And Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences last year came out with a report detailing how scientists at the university have been tracking wind patterns and routes taken by the monarchs through Texas en route to Mexico, and identified the roads and highways where many monarchs meet their end on the pavement before crossing the border south.
All of this attention to the fragile flying insects appears to be helping, somewhat.
The habitat of monarchs wintering in central Mexico’s forest in 2024 to 2025 was just 2.22 acres. By March, however, the acreage had doubled to 4.42 acres, according to the World Wildlife Fund-Telmex Telcel Foundation Alliance and the National Commission of Protected Natural Areas in Mexico (CONANP).
Now it’s at 7.24 acres, but is still less than half what is needed to ensure the species survival, scientists say.
Center for Food Safety officials say increased use of pesticies also are threatening the species.
“The monarchs’ crisis is a damning indictment of industrial agriculture’s toxic legacy,” said George Kimbrell, legal director at the Center for Food Safety. “For decades regulators have ignored the science while approving more pesticides that destroy habitat and poison pollinators. We must protect monarchs before it is too late.”
Sandra Sanchez can be reached at SSanchez@BorderReport.com.
