Visiting Mexico’s monarch butterflies? Here’s how to make the most positive impact

Some tips on a making your visit safe for the endangered insects and helpful to local economies

Published November 8, 2022

After years of concerns about its viability, this past July, the migratory monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) was officially declared endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The organization blames habitat loss and climate change for reducing numbers so much that there may not be enough of a population to reproduce.

Those that winter in California are nearly extinct now, but there are serious concerns about those who fly up to 4,500 km from Canada and the United States to wintering grounds located in the high pine forests at the México state–Michoacán border.

In 1986, Mexico declared over 56,000 hectares of their wintering area as protected land known as the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, but habitat destruction, especially logging continues to degrade the insects’ habitat.

Only 100 km from Mexico City, 135 from Morelia and 185 from San Miguel Allende, the butterflies are a major attraction during the season that runs from late November to March. Certain sections of the biosphere reserve, called “sanctuaries,” are open to the public.

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