PACIFIC GROVE — Nestled inside the huge $1 trillion infrastructure bill that President Joe Biden signed into law last week are two bills co-authored by Rep. Jimmy Panetta aimed at helping monarch butterflies and other insect pollinators threatened by loss of habitat and pesticide use.
There are two bills that Panetta, D-Carmel Valley, announced in April while flanked by Pacific Grove Mayor Bill Peake and Santa Cruz Mayor Donna Meyers — two cities where monarchs overwinter along Monterey Bay.
The first is a five-year program that will provide $10 million in grants to benefit pollinators on roadsides and highway rights-of-way. Called the Monarch and Pollinator Highway Act, the bill was authored by Panetta and Oregon Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley.
Eligible projects include the planting of native plants — which provide pollen and nectar to wild pollinators — as well as the costs of switching to pollinator-friendly practices, such as reducing mowing, especially during key points in the monarch butterfly migration.
Pollinating creatures — birds, bats, bees and butterflies — are important because pollinated plants provide one out of every three bites of food, according to the San Francisco-based nonprofit Pollinator Partnership. A number of vegetables, fruit and nut crops depend on the transfer of pollen to reproduce.
Bigger still is the $250 million Monarch Action, Recovery, and Conservation of Habitat Act that will be distributed to states over the next five years for invasive plant removal along roads, highways, railroads and other transportation routes. While not primarily pollinator-focused, the program prioritizes projects that will re-vegetate areas with pollinator-friendly native species when invasive plants are ripped out.
It also provides a greater share of federal funds for bee-boosting projects, improving the odds that motorists will see lupine or wild columbine instead of kudzu or Japanese knotweed along roadways.
Rep. Salud Carbajal, whose district includes portions of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties, and Illinois Republican Rep. Rodney Davis co-led the introduction of the bipartisan bills in the House.
In April when he announced the bills in Pacific Grove, Panetta said the western monarch population had fallen to just 1% of the numbers seen in the 1980s.
“Something is wrong,” he said. “Something is leading to the shrinking numbers and depletion of this species. The numbers are staggering and are leading to the imminent risk of extinction.”
The exact causes of the dramatic drop in the population are not well understood. Habitat loss from deforestation in Mexico is key. Other causes could include overuse of herbicides and pesticides, climate change‘s fluctuating weather patterns, developmental sprawl and the conversion of U.S. grasslands into ranches and farmlands.
“We don’t want to lose this important pollinator for our crops and this icon of our communities,” Panetta said.
After last year’s Thanksgiving count in Pacific Grove found zero monarch butterflies, the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History says on its website the count at the Pacific Grove Monarch Sanctuary as of Friday is at 12,364.