Monarch Butterflies Are Recommended for Protected Status | They would become the most commonly seen species to receive federal protection if the proposal is adopted.

over the next 60 years, North American monarchs east of the Rocky Mountains have a 56 to 74 percent probability of hitting the point where extinction appears inevitable. For those to the west, that probability was 99 percent.

The primary drivers affecting the butterflies, the assessment found, were the loss and degradation of breeding, migratory and overwintering habitat; exposure to insecticides; and the effects of climate change.