Arkansas Monarch and Pollinator Conservation Plan

Following years of declines in populations of monarch butterflies and pollinators, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has received petitions to list several pollinator species as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. The presidents of the United States and Mexico and the prime minister of Canada have called for cooperative action to address declining monarch populations. In June 2014, a Presidential Memorandum was issued from the White House directing federal actions to address the issue of pollinator conservation resulting in the creation of a Pollinator Health Task Force and the National Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators.

Following a summit of state and federal agencies, nongovernmental organizations, businesses, landowners and others in 2015, a concerted effort was made to bring greater focus to the plight of the monarch butterfly and pollinators in Arkansas. Summit attendees agreed that a statewide strategy should be developed in the form of a state monarch and pollinator conservation plan. This document is the result of that commitment.

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