A California seaside town is doing everything it can to save the beloved monarch butterfly from extinction.

Known as Butterfly Town, Pacific Grove is a vital area for monarch migration as an "overwintering" site on their yearly trek south from the Pacific Northwest. 

A monarch sanctuary was built for this very reason, and "tens of thousands" of butterflies have taken refuge among the branches.

However, the monarch population has been plummeting at an alarming rate — by more than 99% since the 1980s, as The Guardian observed — and many are calling for regulated protection. 

In December 2022, volunteers counted almost 16,000 butterflies in the sanctuary, but in December 2025, just over 100 were present.

Natalie Johnston, the education manager at the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History, runs the monarch programs, and volunteer "citizen scientists" continue to track insect counts every week in hopes of bringing attention to the decline and pushing for conservation. 

Much of the population loss can be credited to pesticides, habitat loss, extreme weather, and a warming climate. Coastal development in the 1980s built on top of overwintering sites, causing habitat loss since the land isn't legally protected. Meanwhile, higher temperatures create extreme weather events, such as droughts, that affect food supply chains. 

But the biggest, and arguably the most fixable, problem is the use of pesticides. In 2024, Pacific Grove faced a "mass mortality event" when hundreds of butterflies died from pesticide exposure. 

The Guardian reported that a study revealed a total of 15 different pesticides were found in the butterflies' systems. Pesticides, even the organic kind, can be fatal to delicate insects.

Johnston went door to door handing out brochures on the harmful effects of pesticides and how to landscape in a way that benefits butterflies, like planting flowering, native plants. 

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"Monarch butterflies depend on you!" the brochures exclaimed.

While monarch butterflies aren't officially listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, The Guardian stated that if nothing changes, western monarchs face a 100% chance of extinction by 2080. 

Pacific Grove declared it illegal to "molest or interfere" with the insect in any way, with fines up to $1,000. Any threat of extinction serves as a "canary in the coal mine," signaling a negative shift in the environment. 

Individual efforts, like from Johnston and the counting team, can make a huge difference. 

For example, an aquatic biologist from California single-handedly brought back a butterfly species to San Francisco by raising caterpillars. 

Elsewhere, one gardener built a butterfly sanctuary in their own backyard. Even growing certain plants, like butterfly milkweed, is a hassle-free way to help revive this majestic species.

As one of the volunteers from the history museum explained, per The Guardian, "My job is to help people fall in love with the butterflies, or fall deeper in love, so that they'll take action."

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