• CONSERVATION: A drop in illegal logging has improved the tree cover area at the monarch butterfly’s wintering grounds in central Mexico according to experts and officials who project a strong turnout this year of thousands migratory insects making the long trip from Eastern Canada.
• HERITAGE SITE: In 2008, the UN declared the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve a World Heritage Site covering 139,000 acres (56,000 hectares) located right in the pine-oak forests of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. Around 33,000 acres (13,000 hectares) are the reserve’s core zone.
• STRATEGY: “We’ve managed to preserve core zone thanks to the commitment of ejidos, indigenous communities and brigade members who monitor forests in exchange for payment for environmental services”, says Jorge Rickards, director general of the World Wildlife Fund-Mexico (WWF)
• VIEWING SEASON: Experts said that damage to the Reserve this year was of about 12.3 acres (5 hectares), a 25% reduction from the16.5 acres (6.7 hectares) of 2018; butterflies are expected to arrive to the reserve (100 miles from Mexico City) sometime in the first week of November.
