Community Conservation of Monarch Forest in Mexico

The recent cold snap in the monarch sanctuaries has saddened all of us at MBF but it only prompts us to redouble our conservation efforts. The final count of the butterfly mortality is not in yet and it may take time to gather all the needed data to make a determination, but we are hoping that the monarch’s resilience shines through. While anecdotal photos from the area indicate mortality, there are also videos of many monarchs flying. Also of concern is the large number of trees felled by the high winds during the storm. Our efforts are more needed than ever. Fortunately our tree nurseries around the area are fine.                                                                            

Our local partner Alternare continued working arduously with the local indigenous communities within the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve. During the first trimester, several workshops and activities were held, including four workshops to build cisterns in four communities with the participation of eleven women and forty one men; and two workshops on how to grow trees in two communities with the participation of eighteen women and twenty three men. The workshops resulted in the construction of six cisterns which will capture rainwater and the establishment of two school tree nurseries. As a workshop participant from Los Zapotes stated, “We are happy to involve our children in the nurseries now when they are young, so they can learn how important and beautiful trees are and just like trees they grow to value and appreciate nature’s beauty.”

MBF will continue striving to restore and conserve the overwintering habitat of the monarch butterflies and to improve the lives of the local communities. In this period of uncertainty with the recent snow storm, we are glad that we have people that truly care like YOU on our side! THANK YOU!

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The monarchs have arrived in Mexico! Our local partner Alternare and the indigenous communities that work with us eagerly welcomed them. Alternare’s work focuses on reducing the use of water and wood resources. To this end, during the last trimester of the year, six women and 11 men from local communities within the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, participated in two workshops and built six fuel-efficient stoves for three families, two for the schools and one for a community. Additionally, 38 men participated in three workshops and built three school and four community cisterns that will be used by the communities at large. “The cisterns will help us capture rain-water which we will use for the entire community”, said a member of Donaciano Ojeda indigenous community enthusiastically while getting water from the cistern.

In preparation for next year’s reforestation we already have 4,300 new seedlings and 22,000 seedlings-in-growth in our 23 collective tree nurseries waiting for next summer!

MBF is delighted to make all this possible and contribute to forest conservation while improving the standard of living of the local communities. This will in turn benefit the overwintering habitat of the monarch butterflies. We couldn’t do it without your generous contributions!! Thank you!

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Our summer reforestation is complete! Our local partner in Mexico, Alternare, was joined by 700 hundred members from 7 local communities and planted 27,835 trees in 20 hectares of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve’s buffer zone.

Communities were excited and enthusiastic taking care the seedlings were planted properly and in the locations they selected themselves. Plans to monitor and protect the recently forested areas are underway with local surveillance committees instituted to make sure the trees are safe from loggers.  Local engagement has proved to be the most successful strategy prompting communities to take ownership of conservation and stewardship of their forests.

But that is not all! We also held a workshop to construct a cistern for a community with the participation of 2 women and 12 men and another7 workshops to build fuel-efficient stoves with 59 women and 3 men. We built 56 stoves! Proudly standing by a completed stove for her family, a participant expressed her satisfaction: “Building this stove will enable me to spend time with my family and keep them healthy because we don’t have as much smoke and we are saving wood.”

Thank you very much for your generous support which is making all this possible. We are looking forward to an overwintering season with a higher population of monarchs!

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Reforestation for 2015 has started, before the rainy season catches up to us! Local communities and schools, along with our local partner Alternare, are in the forest, busy planting trees.  

During June, 9,042 trees were planted in 8.5 hectares at Carpinteros, Francisco Serrato, Cresencio Morales, Nicolás Romero and Donaciano Ojeda. Pine, oak, oyamel and honeysuckle seedlings from the 23 tree nurseries established and maintained by the communities were used. We continue seeking ways to optimize our reforestation strategy and tree survival rates, so we planted some trees using the organic fertilizer known as Bokashi to be able to compare their growth with those planted without it.

One of the participants from Francisco Serrato, who has been in charge of the reforestation in his community since 2007, enthusiastically told us, “We get water and fuel wood from the forest so it’s very important to reforest, we are giving the forest back what it so generously gives us.”

We also continued with our other activities holding 3 workshops on how to produce trees with the participation of 39 women and 14 men who produced 3,860 trees.

We are very excited to have more and more communities joining us helping us recover the forest and improving the situation for the monarchs.

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This year begins with exciting news from our local partner Alternare who continues to thrive. In the first trimester four workshops were held: three on how to build fuel-efficient stoves and one to build a cistern at a school In Rondanilla, Michoacan. The former included 36 women and 18 men who created 10 stoves, benefiting nine families and the Donaciano Ojeda elementary school. The latter included six women and 18 men, a wonderful outpouring of community spirit to help make the stoves and cistern a reality. 

Preparations are now in progress for the upcoming reforestation season as well. Communities and schools are doing an outstanding job maintaining their tree nurseries to have all the seedlings for this summer’s reforestation planting ready. We held a workshop with 16 women and 14 men who produced 2,000 pine, oyamel, oak, ash tree seedlings in the 21 nurseries established by Alternare. A total of 31,371 trees are now under the communities’ care. We plan to reforest 16 hectares in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve’s buffer zone this year and everything looks ready.

The monarchs were late in leaving the overwintering sites in Mexico but they are now heading north to their summer breeding grounds. Preliminary numbers indicate that the monarch population is slowly recovering with increased monarch sightings reported in some parts of Texas. Extended weather forecasts for the northern breeding grounds look favorable and we are all hoping the monarch population will once again expand this year. We’ll keep monitoring their progress as a new generation is born and joins their migration north.

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