<
https://www.courthousenews.com/in-win-for-butterflies-and-loss-for-texas-republicans-feds-move-to-protect-rare-plant/>
'(CN) — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Monday declared the prostrate
milkweed an endangered species and mandated new habitat protections for the
plant, closing a chapter in a feud between environmentalists and those who
advocate for unfettered border wall construction in South Texas.
The rare milkweed, which grows only in the Texas-Mexico borderlands, has for
months been at the center of the fight between butterfly lovers and Texas
officials. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican who supports new
border wall construction, said last year that formally protecting the plant
would create an "influx of illegal aliens" and endanger Texans. Environmental
groups say the listing will help safeguard the charismatic migratory monarch
butterfly, which has a deeply symbiotic relationship with the unassuming weed.
While the prostrate milkweed has a range of around 200 miles, only 24
populations of the species are known to still exist. Those are in Starr and
Zapata counties in far South Texas, as well as in neighboring states of Nuevo
León and Tamaulipas in northern Mexico.
It's the rarest species of milkweed, and it's a critical habitat for monarch
butterflies as they head north from Mexico after the winter. Monarch
caterpillars can only eat milkweed, and female monarchs only lay their eggs on
milkweed. Toxic compounds in the plant, which monarchs consume, help protect
the butterflies from predators and give them their signature orange hue. In
turn, monarchs help pollinate and spread the plants.
Historically, the FWS said in its final rule on Monday, patches of prostrate
milkweed along the Texas-Mexico border were all geographically linked. They
were separated and are "very unlikely" to reconnect, the agency said, due to
what it called "disturbance" in the region.
That disturbance has included herbicides, oil and gas pipelines and, most
notably, border wall construction green-lit by former President Donald Trump.'
Via
Future Crunch:
<
https://futurecrunch.com/good-news-maternal-mortality-high-seas-atlantic-forest/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
