Hi r/environment, this is Jake from The Guardian. We wanted to share this story that we published about Pacific Grove, California — known as ‘Butterfly Town USA’ for its role as an overwintering spot.
Here, butterfly murals abound: one splashes across the side of a hotel, another adorns a school. As for local businesses, there’s the Monarch Pub, the Butterfly Grove Inn, even Monarch Knitting (a local yarn shop). And every fall, the small city hosts a butterfly parade, where local elementary school children dress up in butterfly costumes. The city’s municipal code even declares it an unlawful act to “molest or interfere” with monarchs in any way, with a possible fine of $1,000.
After all, Pacific Grove is better known by its other, self-given nickname: “Butterfly Town, U.S.A.”
But Butterfly Town, and the rest of California, has a problem. The species behind the fanfare is disappearing at an alarming rate, amid rampant pesticide use, habitat loss, extreme weather and the climate crisis. The stakes are dire; monarch populations in the western US have plummeted by [more than 99% since the 1980s](https://xerces.org/press/new-ultralight-radio-tags-are-tracking-monarch-butterflies-in-santa-cruz).
Pacific Grove has long been an official “overwintering” resting site for monarch butterflies, which flock from the Pacific north-west down to the California coast every late fall and winter on their annual migration route. In years past, tens of thousands of monarchs have taken shelter in the town’s designated monarch sanctuary, amassing around the branches of trees in huge clumps and bursting through the air in giant orange clouds.
One week in December 2022, volunteers counted nearly 16,000 butterflies sheltering within Pacific Grove’s sanctuary. But this year, on a similar December week, the butterfly count there was 107.
For many biologists, monarchs serve as a canary in the coal mine for environmental impacts to come, especially for other pollinators.
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Hi r/environment, this is Jake from The Guardian. We wanted to share this story that we published about Pacific Grove, California — known as ‘Butterfly Town USA’ for its role as an overwintering spot.
*From our story:*
In the tiny seaside village of Pacific Grove, [California](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/california), there’s no escaping the monarch butterfly.
Here, butterfly murals abound: one splashes across the side of a hotel, another adorns a school. As for local businesses, there’s the Monarch Pub, the Butterfly Grove Inn, even Monarch Knitting (a local yarn shop). And every fall, the small city hosts a butterfly parade, where local elementary school children dress up in butterfly costumes. The city’s municipal code even declares it an unlawful act to “molest or interfere” with monarchs in any way, with a possible fine of $1,000.
After all, Pacific Grove is better known by its other, self-given nickname: “Butterfly Town, U.S.A.”
But Butterfly Town, and the rest of California, has a problem. The species behind the fanfare is disappearing at an alarming rate, amid rampant pesticide use, habitat loss, extreme weather and the climate crisis. The stakes are dire; monarch populations in the western US have plummeted by [more than 99% since the 1980s](https://xerces.org/press/new-ultralight-radio-tags-are-tracking-monarch-butterflies-in-santa-cruz).
If nothing changes, experts fear the western monarchs have [a nearly 100% chance of extinction by 2080](https://www.fws.gov/press-release/2024-12/monarch-butterfly-proposed-endangered-species-act-protection).
Pacific Grove has long been an official “overwintering” resting site for monarch butterflies, which flock from the Pacific north-west down to the California coast every late fall and winter on their annual migration route. In years past, tens of thousands of monarchs have taken shelter in the town’s designated monarch sanctuary, amassing around the branches of trees in huge clumps and bursting through the air in giant orange clouds.
One week in December 2022, volunteers counted nearly 16,000 butterflies sheltering within Pacific Grove’s sanctuary. But this year, on a similar December week, the butterfly count there was 107.
For many biologists, monarchs serve as a canary in the coal mine for environmental impacts to come, especially for other pollinators.
[*You can read the full story for free at this link.*](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/05/monarch-butterfly-california-conservation?referring_host=Reddit&utm_campaign=guardianacct)