These
maps show the changes in the monarch forest from 1971 to 1999.
"What
in 1971 was nearly continuous high quality forest is now a series of islands
with large spaces of degraded forest between them. This study of aerial
photographs taken in 1971, 1984 and 1999, shows that 44% of conserved,
dense forests were degraded between 1984 and 1999," say Dr. Lincoln
Brower and Monica Missrie, World Wildlife Fund-Mexico.
"Causes
for this forest degradation are multiple, including excessive and illegal
commercial logging, wood harvesting for domestic use, forest conversion
to agriculture, and damage from periodic fires. These multiple negative
effects on the oyamel forest ecosystem are incompatible with the needs
of the monarch butterfly and, over the long term, those of the local inhabitants
as well."
- Play
slideshow >>
- See
World Wildlife Fund Report >>
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