Trump administration punts on protections for monarch butterfly

The Trump administration on Tuesday declined to give the monarch butterfly protections for threatened species for now, but left the door open for protections in the future. The Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) determined that adding the butterfly to the list of threatened and endangered species was “warranted” but that it is unable to do so because it needs to devote its resources to higher-priority species. The FWS said that its “warranted-but-precluded” determination means that every year it will consider adding the butterfly to the list until it decides to propose listing it or determines that protections aren’t warranted. “We conducted an intensive, thorough review using a rigorous, transparent science-based process and found that the monarch meets listing criteria under the Endangered Species Act,” said FWS Director Aurelia Skipwith. The agency determined that 161 species that are on the waiting list for protections, or 64 percent of species on the list, are a higher priority than the monarch...MORE