House lawmakers will release 50 butterflies outside the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday in the evening as part of an effort to alert the public of the decline in the monarch butterfly population.
The Congressional Pollinator Protection Caucus, comprised of just seven lawmakers, will supply 50 of the black and orange butterflies for the first 50 guests. They will have the pleasure of setting the creatures — who live an average of two to six weeks — free into Washington, D.C.
The lawmakers are also giving away milkweed pods — which will grow into plants that these butterflies depend on — for fall planting to guests.
The event will take place outside the “House Triangle” area southeast of the U.S. Capitol and will not be canceled in the event of inclement weather.
The caucus co-chairs, Reps. Jeff Denham, R-Calif., and Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., will attend along with Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Ill., Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, and Dan Newhouse, R-Wash.
Staff from Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, House Chaplain Rev. Patrick Conroy, and Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan will also be present.
The lawmakers’ butterfly release will come just hours after the deadline for commenting on the Interior Department’s plan to revise key parts of the Endangered Species Act, which could include protections for the threatened monarch butterfly species.
The Interior Department’s plan, the deadline for which ended at midnight on Monday, includes three new regulations that environmentalists oppose as a threat to the federal endangered species program. Environmentalists, as of Monday afternoon, had pumped the dockets for the proposed rules with thousands of comments, most of which were form letters sent by individuals, asking the agency not to move forward with revisions to the endangered species law.
The Property and Environment Research Center points out in more substantive comments that the monarch butterfly is a species currently being assessed by Interior’s Fish and Wildlife Service to determine whether it warrants protection under the Endangered Species Act. But uncertainty from future agency actions could undermine the steps already taken by the private sector to improve the insect’s habitat, the group said.
The research group said that a handful of organizations and investors are attempting to provide incentives to conserve the butterfly by establishing a habitat exchange. “The program provides financial rewards to farmers and ranchers who restore and conserve monarch butterfly habitat,” the group says. “This type of market-based program has the potential to align incentives of landowners and the species, but uncertainty around future agency actions with respect to the Endangered Species Act could threaten conservation prospects.”
The Fish and Wildlife Service website says the monarch butterfly “is one of the most recognizable species in North America and it’s in trouble.”
The agency explains that chemical sprays can destroy the milkweed monarchs feed off of and need to survive. It also points out that a “changing climate has intensified weather events which may impact monarch populations,” according to the website.
The proposed Interior Department rules would change how the Fish and Wildlife Service identifies endangered species, how it designates critical habitat for threatened and endangered species, and how the agency collaborates with other agencies in implementing those protections.
