All About The Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve

The beautiful orange-and-black Monarch butterfly is quite common throughout the USA, especially in the Mid-Eastern states. A popular school project for children, many of us have had the experience of caring for the larvae (their cocoons), until they reach adults and are able to migrate. Their movement pattern across the continent is a long one, and most of the little creatures will eventually find their place in Mexico.

The Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve is a World Heritage Site, located in the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt region north of the capital city. It consists of over 216 square miles of protected land that houses lush forests, white-tailed deer, coyotes, foxes, weasels, rabbits, owls, and a variety of hummingbirds and reptiles. An amazing 60 million Monarch butterflies live in the park between the months of October and March, and there is the possibility of the numbers reaching as high as one billion.

Monarchs are the only butterfly known to make annual north-south migrations, and the time it takes to make a round trip is actually longer than their lifespan; it's not fully understood how new generations know where their wintering site is or how to get there. There are fourteen colonies located in the Reserve, and during the most populous months the air can literally be filled with the winged creatures, who can block out the sun like a cloud. Incredibly, the insects travel about 2850 miles from the Canada/US border during their journey.

In the past several decades, the population of monarchs was declining due to forestry and the destruction of their numerous habitats. While conservation efforts have been independently underway since the 1970s, Canada, the United States, and Mexico all signed an agreement in 2008 to conserve the butterfly's migration routes and bring the species' numbers back up. Thanks to some funding, progress has been made in cleaning up their habitat, and in keeping humans at bay where the Monarch colonies congregate.

Visitors to the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve can see two of the colonies: Sierra Chincua and El Rosario, both of which offer guided tours of the area. The ecosystem is preserved by closing some spots to the public. Awareness of the habitat and the conservation efforts underway is showcased during the Festival de la Mariposa Monarca - an event that also promotes the local art, food, and culture. This is the end stop for those caterpillars that you raised as a child, and this is where its offspring fly to as well.

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