Mexico Moves to Protect Monarch Butterfly Reserve
By Fiona Ortiz
Monday November 26 6:29 PM ET

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Millions of migrating Monarch butterflies returning to central Mexico this month will share the hills with 60 new inspectors assigned to stamp out illegal logging that threatens the insects' habitat. The inspectors will patrol the forests and roads of the nature reserve where colonies of the orange-and-black butterflies coat trees from November to March, checking logging permits.

Jose Campillo, head of environmental enforcement agency Profepa, said on Monday 60 percent of the forest in the protected Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve has been cut in the last few decades, threatening to destroy the wintering and reproduction lands of the Monarch.

Tens of millions of Monarch butterflies fly from Canada every year in a stunning migration that scientists still do not fully understand. Most congregate in the reserve which was expanded last year to 133,400 acres from 39,540 acres.

The reserve attracts tourists who gawk at trees dripping with butterflies and the air thick with the flying insects. What many of the tourists do not see are the hundreds of logging trucks and sawmills in the region around the reserve, located in the central states of Michoacan and Mexico.

Campillo says many of the logging outfits are illegal, financed by urban-based businesses to make furniture and feed a huge local market for wooden boxes and pallets in the fruit and vegetable industry.

In two operations so far this year, Profepa agents and police seized 103,000 cubic feet of wood, mostly in log forms, enough to fill some 300 trucks. They also seized 20 trucks, 140 sets of logging equipment, and closed 15 mills, Campillo said.

Now the agency is making the operation permanent and 24 hours a day.

``We want to achieve a total sealing off of the Biosphere Reserve to avoid the passage of illegally harvested wood and of wood being transported with false papers,'' said Javier Mayen, a top Profepa official.

Inspectors will respond to reports of the sounds of cutting, or other complaints of logging activity, and will stop trucks on roads and check for logging permits. There are 346 legitimate logging permits for the reserve area, with a total authorized volume of 3.81 million cubic feet of wood a year. In the past, loggers have used fake permits, or abused genuine permits, but Campillo said new, difficult-to-counterfeit permits will make that tougher.

The Mexican government and the World Wildlife Fund, which has a Monarch butterfly project in Mexico, will help families dependent on logging activities to find other work, including forest preservation and reforestation.