Iconic monarch butterfly recommended for ‘threatened’ list as population shrinks

The once-common sightings of the brightly colored monarch butterfly have become a rarer experience in recent years across Georgia and other travel paths during the pollinator’s annual migration across North America.

But the federal government wants to stop that trend. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Tuesday that it plans to add the monarch butterfly to the list of threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, granting it federal protections.

Conservationists say they are hopeful that the proposal, if finalized, will lead to a rebound in the shrinking population that once exceeded an estimated 380 million in the mid-1990s.