On December 6^th and 7^th the State Coordinator for the Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program in Texas attended the Monarch Flyway Conservation Workshop held in Mission, Texas.   The primary sponsors for the meeting were the U.S. Forest Service and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.  Attendees included approximately 60 scientists and others with expertise in monarch conservation from Canada, Mexico, and the United States.   A central theme to the workshop was that although monarch populations are apparently relatively stable now, the increasing use of Round-Up Ready crop varieties could greatly decrease the amount of milkweed plants available for monarch usage.  Since monarchs are milkweed specialists, this could lead to a significant decrease in the amount of suitable habitat available. 

It was also pointed out that because a high percentage of North American monarchs traverse across Texas during migration, private lands in Texas are pivotal to the success of monarch conservation efforts.  The Texas PFW State Coordinator provided a brief overview of existing conservation programs available to private landowners to help them improve their properties for monarchs and other wildlife.  One problem discussed was that milkweed plants and seeds are not readily available commercially.