Thousands of monarch butterflies disappear, Only 4 counted in Goleta

 
GOLETA, Calif. — As winter approaches, people travel to Ellwood Mesa in Goleta to see the thousands of western monarch butterflies.
  
“Walking amongst these eucalyptus groves and seeing these bursts of orange and black and gorgeous butterflies over every winter really had a lasting impact on me. I think it is one thing that really introduces kids to the splendor of nature,” said Emily Doyle from the California State Parks Foundation.

 This year Ellwood Mesa is far less colorful. 
 
Only 4 butterflies have been counted in the area in the latest December count. Last month that number was 34. 
 
It's a stark contrast to previous years.
 
“Monarchs that were here last year, like at Goleta, we had 10 to 15,000. A lot of those monarchs started to leave early and then we got some big storms. And those big storms tend to unfortunately kill quite a few of those adult migrating monarchs. We had a couple of heat waves and in the summer grounds, which is up in the Great Basin region, those heat waves tend to kill monarch eggs,” said City of Goleta Parks and Open Space Manager George Thomson.

Butterfly counts are extremely low across California, including Pismo Beach.
 
“We saw extreme heat, I believe it was this past July was the hottest July in California's history, as well as prolonged drought that impacts their breeding habitat. So what we're seeing now, these really low numbers really is a reflection of the climate crisis that's going on all around us,” said Doyle.
 
Emily Doyle with the California State Parks Foundation says in addition to climate change, there are concerns about pesticide use contributing to the rapid decline of the monarch population. 
 
But there are things you can do to help including planting nectar plants in order to provide food and planting milkweed in order to help with the breeding habitat. 
 
“What we can really do is help make habitat more climate resilient. So what is really important and what makes these sites so unique where butterflies return every year is there are these overwintering sites along the California coast and they provide really important a really important microclimate that monarchs need to survive the winter,” said Doyle.
 
Some folks are already getting started.

On Saturday, the Bucket Brigade planted trees at Ellwood Mesa.