WASHINGTON: A butterfly being considered for federal protection is emblematic of the plight that pollinating insects face in part because farmers, enticed by ethanol mandates, are growing more herbicide-resistant crops, which has stripped millions of acres of crucial plant habitat.
Herbicide makers say they’re committed to helping the black-and-orange insects, whose numbers have plummeted by more than 90 percent in the past two decades. And environmentalists seeking protection for monarchs under the Endangered Species Act said restoring milkweed habitat would help other pollinating insects, too, such as honey bees, whose numbers of managed colonies have dropped by more than 4 million beehives since 1947.
“My feeling is if the monarch goes, it is like the canary in the coalmine,” ecologist Lincoln Brower with Sweet Briar College in Virginia said.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been taking comments and data about monarchs and a decision on whether to list the monarch as threatened is due in December. Although a plan for helping the monarch wouldn’t be developed unless it gains “threatened” status, the solution needs to address herbicides, as well as mowing public roadsides less frequently, Brower said.
Tesla driverless system to use updated radar technology
WASHINGTON: Electric carmaker Tesla announced Sunday it was upgrading its Autopilot software to use more advanced radar technology. In a...
