公民、保护组织和各国政府正在联手帮助这些娇柔多彩的生物进行迁徙。这项帮助计划要在迁徙路线上的数百个地点增加一种特定植物的生长。【请见英文文章】

北美原生植物马利筋是帝王蝶幼虫唯一的食物，因此对帝王蝶的繁殖至关重要。但随着农民能更加高效地将这种野草清除出他们的农作物田，马利筋已经变得比较稀缺。

美国鱼类和野生动物管理局（USFWS）局长丹尼尔·阿什（Daniel Ashe）在管理局最近的一篇出版物中写道，“与合作伙伴协作，我们将在公共土地上恢复和改善超过20万英亩[81,000公顷]的帝王蝶栖息地。”【请见英文文章】

美国鱼类和野生动物管理局还支持在全国750所校园内营造蝴蝶和其他授粉昆虫栖息地的项目。帝王蝶联合项目（Monarch Joint Venture）是与政府合作的一个私营部门合作伙伴，它是一个致力于保护和恢复帝王蝶种群数量的联盟。

拯救帝王蝶的努力在墨西哥有更多的支持者。1996年，墨西哥政府创建了帝王蝶生物圈保护区（Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve）以保护蝴蝶过冬的栖息地。墨西哥政府及私人保育团体与当地社区合作，从而更好地管理自然资源来维持这种昆虫的数量。

大约20年前，在墨西哥过冬的帝王蝶数量据说超过十亿。聚集在树上的蝴蝶给森林罩上了橙色和黑色的幕布。研究小组计算出在2014年帝王蝶的数量仅为之前数量的6％。


Fewer butterflies making epic journey

Flocks of monarch butterflies regularly migrate across North America to overwinter in Mexico, a natural phenomenon considered “one of nature’s epic journeys.” But the numbers of insects making the more than 4,500-kilometer trip has declined steeply in recent years.

Citizens, preservation organizations and governments are joining forces to help the delicate and colorful creatures migrate. The plan is to increase the availability of a specific plant at hundreds of places on the flight route.

The native milkweed is the only thing the monarch caterpillar eats, and the plant is critical to the monarch’s reproduction. But this weed has become scarcer as farmers have become more efficient at keeping it out of their crops.

“Working with partners, we will restore and enhance more than 200,000 acres [81,000 hectares] of habitat for monarchs on public lands,” wrote Director Daniel Ashe of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) in a recent agency publication.

USFWS also supports projects to create habitats for butterflies and other pollinators in 750 schoolyards nationwide. The government has a private-sector partner in the Monarch Joint Venture, a coalition dedicated to protecting and restoring monarch populations.

Monarch-saving has more supporters in Mexico. In 1996, the Mexican government created theMonarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve to protect the butterfly’s wintering habitat. Mexican government and private conservation groups work with local communities to better manage natural resources to sustain the insect population.

About 20 years ago, the monarch population spending the winter in Mexico was thought to be more than 1 billion butterflies. Forests would become curtains of orange and black as the insects clustered in the trees. Research teams calculate that the 2014 population is only 6 percent of its former number.