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For Claudia Galeno-Sanchez, monarch butterflies are more than a fluorescent orange insect with wings.
“The monarch butterfly is like an icon, something that Mexicans identify with,” she said. “The only difference between monarch butterflies and us as Mexicans, is that we do not have the freedom to cross borders.”
When she was 14 years old, her father passed away in Mexico from cancer but she wasn’t able to visit him.
“I couldn’t go to say goodbye to him, to tell him that I loved him very much, to give him the last hug,” Galeno-Sanchez said in Spanish. “It’s like a scar that stays with you.”
The heart-wrenching experience molded Galeno-Sanchez and with the help of neighbors, the now 47-year-old converted her Pilsen home into a vibrant butterfly sanctuary to bring awareness to the species that was declared vulnerable to going extinct.
The mother of two children had already founded Women for Green Spaces nearly two years prior, an organization that promotes access to green spaces and the growth of pollinators in Pilsen by planting native plants for the monarch habitat to thrive.
Every year, a generation of monarch butterflies can travel up to 3,000 miles from as far north as Canada to Mexico and spend the winters there. They reach Chicago by the end of May and in most summers, there are three generations of monarchs in Illinois, according to the Nature Museum.
But the species’ population has dropped by more than 80% since the 90s in Central Mexico and by more than 95% since the 80s in coastal California, according to the Center for Biological Diversity.
David Zaya, a botanist at the Illinois Natural History Survey, says part of the species’ decline is tied with the loss of natural grasslands across the state which makes it harder for milkweeds to grow.
Milkweeds are the only plant monarchs can lay their eggs on and caterpillars can feed on. Without it, they cannot complete their life cycle.
“A lot of the milkweed in the state was in corn and soybean fields that 25 to 30 years ago had milkweeds in them and now they don’t because the way that farming is done is different,” Zaya said. “It’s a lot more reliant on chemicals that remove weeds, including milkweed.”
There are other factors that have led the monarch’s numbers to fluctuate drastically including climate change, droughts, pollution, deforestation, disease outbreaks and pesticide and herbicide use.
Much of these effects have been caused by human beings, Galeno-Sanchez pointed out.
“We are practically destroying our planet. We are destroying the natural habitats of species and the problem is that we have to realize that after we destroy the pollinators and all the other species, we are going to destroy ourselves as human beings,” Galeno-Sanchez said. “We are not immortal.”
Though planting more native plants like milkweeds won’t solve the problem, it is “part of the solution,” Zaya said.
“What planting more milkweed does is it raises the baseline of monarchs that we can have and in raising the baseline, we have more protection from those dips,” Zaya said.
In order for the monarch species to truly survive, it requires a collaborative plan between Mexico, the United States and Canada.
Diego Pérez Salicrup, a plant ecologist at the Institute for Ecosystem and Sustainability Research at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, has been studying forest fires and their impacts on the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve.
Pérez Salicrup said when forest fires are suppressed, it can lead combustibles to build up and it can cause catastrophic fires like the flames that engulfed Yellowstone National Park in 1988.
“In places like the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, if we remove the fires, we will come across that same scenario in 30 years,” he said. “What we want is for there to be fires but in the dose and the frequency that the forest needs it.”
When forest fires are controlled, it can become an effective way to conserve biodiversity, Pérez Salicrup added.
But it’s much easier said than done.
“The reality is that we don’t know how much you need, or how often, or how… There’s a lot of research we have to do,” Pérez Salicrup said.
Another part of Pérez Salicrup’s research has taken place in San Miguel Topilejo, one of Mexico’s most important forested areas that is essential to the well-being of around one-fifth of the country’s population.
Pérez Salicrup said one of the challenges he has faced has been trying to maintain the butterflies’ habitat while ensuring that the people who live there have autonomy over themselves and the forest burning process.
“How do you come up with a strategy in a semi-rural town in Mexico City where most of the inhabitants have not gone to college?” Pérez Salicrup asked. “How can you organize the community so that at least some young people can go to university directly and not have to depend on a Moreliano who has to tell them what to do with their fuels? Because in the future, they are the community.”
The challenges become more complex and solutions require everyone at the table.
“Putting together this puzzle should not be done with the intention of finding which of the three countries is to blame,” Pérez Salicrup said. “What we have to find is how we can work together to ensure that we continue this [butterfly’s migration] phenomenon.”
Elsa Anderson, an environmental assistant professor at Northwestern University, said that anyone can play a role in saving monarch butterflies and the greater environment, “no matter where you live.”
“Find a way to plant milkweed,” Anderson said. “Whether that’s in a pot, whether that’s asking your property manager if you can have a little space in the lawn to grow some native plants, whether it’s asking your property manager to stop spraying pesticides, everybody has a little entryway to their home or a small pocket of space where they can plant milkweed.”
Anderson said she also recommends people download apps like BudBurst and iNaturalist which can teach them about different plants and animals around them.
“Those are great ways to build your knowledge and your understanding, without needing to get a college degree or read a big heavy book,” Anderson said.
The next step in making a difference is to get involved in the political process.
“Talk to your alderman, talk to your homeowners association,” Anderson said. “Talk to people who are making decisions at a higher level about your neighborhood and advocate for more native plants.”
There are a lot of benefits to planting native plants that people can point out to those in positions of power in order to be heard, Anderson said.
Those benefits include: lower watering costs, higher water infiltration, reducing flooding, lowering heat, improving mental health and reducing violence in neighborhoods.
Galeno-Sanchez first nurtured milkweeds in her backyard butterfly sanctuary but has since planted the native plants across Pilsen including at over four local elementary schools and several local churches.
Women for Green Spaces, with its nearly 40 members, recently earned $14,000 from Chicago Region Tree Initiative which will be used to locate places in the city that disproportionately lack trees and plant them there.
Galeno-Sanchez said she hopes adding more trees can help rebuild another piece of a frailing ecosystem.
“We need to increase the number of trees, and not only in Pilsen, we have to increase the number of trees all over the planet, in all countries,” she said.
Women for Green Spaces also earned $3,000 from Whole Kids to plant fruits and vegetables in Orozco Community Academy’s community garden.
Despite her efforts, Galeno-Sanchez only has faded memories of a garden that was once filled with monarch butterflies fluttering their wings while resting on leaves.
“This year has really shaken me up in a way I didn’t expect,” she said. “I didn’t expect to see my garden empty, without monarch butterflies.”
The mother said she can’t help but feel like everything she is doing is still not enough.
“Honestly, I would like to feel that all this is helping but I am losing hope. I don’t want to lose them,” She said, letting out a deep sigh before picking her head up and saying with conviction: “Look, we can’t lose hope because we have no other choice. I want my grandchildren to know about the monarch butterflies.”
You can donate to Women for Green Spaces through Working Family Solidarity’s website here.
