The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Center for Biological Diversity, Center for Food Safety reached a settlement that will require the agency to issue a final listing determination for the Monarch butterfly. While the settlement does not automatically grant Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections to monarchs, it ensures that the federal government will ultimately make a final decision on the proposal by June 2030.
Timeline:
2014
- Center for Biological Diversity, Center for Food Safety, the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, and monarch researcher Lincoln Brower petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the monarch butterfly under the ESA.
2020
- The monarch butterfly was designated as a candidate species for ESA protection, acknowledging that listing was warranted but precluded by higher-priority actions.
2024
- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service published a proposed rule to list the monarch butterfly as a ‘threatened’ under the ESA, accompanied by a species-specific Section 4(d) rule and proposed critical habitat in coastal California.
2025
- The statutory one-year deadline for a final listing decision passed without a final rule being issued. Instead, the monarch rule was moved to the agency’s “long-term actions” category, which could push the decision indefinitely.
2026
- Following the suit filed by the Center for Biological Diversity and Center for Food Safety in Feb 2026, a settlement agreement was reached between the parties where the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service committed to issuing a final listing determination for the monarch butterfly by June 6, 2030. The final determination could be to list the species as threatened, endangered, or find that listing is not warranted. The settlement does not currently impose new ESA restrictions.
