Canku Ota
	(Many Paths)
	An Online Newsletter Celebrating Native America
	april 7, 2001 - Issue 33
	Mexico Moves to Protect Monarch Butterfly

MEXICO CITY - Mexico's environmental protection agency Profepa said on Sunday it was taking more steps to protect the forest winter home of the Monarch butterfly amid illegal logging and other threats. In one of nature's most dramatic journeys, tens of millions of Monarch butterflies migrate to the mountains of central Michoacan state from Canada every year to spend the winter. Though the Mexican government recently expanded the protected zone where the butterflies winter, a mass die-off of the fragile creatures this year at Cerro San Andres raised alarm about their destruction at the hands of humans. Original fears that the butterflies had been poisoned with pesticides were discounted, but officials said the deaths were due to loss of habitat, due in part to illegal logging, as well as to a cold snap. Late in March Profepa seized illegally harvested timber equal to 1,380 trees measuring 80 feet tall and 20 inches in diameter as part of a crackdown on illegal logging at Cerro San Andres, the agency said in a news release. Profepa also held meetings with local officials, property owners, the environment ministry and the military to map a protection plan. It calls for more intensive inspection of the forest reserve, reforestation programs, wildfire protection and other measures.

Monarch Butterfly http://www.gpnc.org/monarch.htm

"Monarch Butterfly Metamorphosis" http://people.ne.mediaone.net/fredhome/magic.htm

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