Enacts the monarch preservation plan, the official text

S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   1819
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                             January 14, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  M.  of A. SIMON, ZINERMAN, SAYEGH, ROSENTHAL, McDONOUGH,
   K. BROWN, COLTON, OTIS -- read once and referred to the  Committee  on
   Environmental Conservation
 
 AN  ACT  to  amend  the  environmental  conservation law, in relation to
   enacting the monarch preservation plan

   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  Short  title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
 the "monarch preservation plan".
   § 2. Legislative findings. The legislature hereby finds that over  the
 past several decades, the number of monarch butterflies in North America
 has  steeply  declined.  The great migration of the eastern monarchs has
 been named a "threatened phenomenon"  by  the  International  Union  for
 Conservation  of  Nature  and  Natural Resources (IUCN). As of 2014, the
 monarch population has declined from approximately one billion  butterf-
 lies to 35 million, around 90% since 1990.
   Major  threat  to  monarchs  include  habitat  loss and fragmentation,
 changes in climate and  extreme  weather,  pesticides,  herbicides,  and
 genetically modified crops, invasive species, disease and natural preda-
 tors.
   Actively restoring native milkweed and nectar plants, and other polli-
 nator  habitat,  and  ensuring  that  key  habitats  are  protected from
 destruction, are critical to ensuring the survival of  monarch  butterf-
 lies and can also help facilitate conservation of other essential polli-
 nators.    Enhancing pollinator populations can result in improved poll-
 ination  services  for  neighboring  land,  including  agriculture   and
 wildlife ecosystems.
   §  3.  The  environmental  conservation law is amended by adding a new
 section 11-0541 to read as follows:
 § 11-0541. MONARCH PRESERVATION PLAN.
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD04729-01-5
 A. 1819                             2
 
   BEGINNING WITHIN ONE YEAR OF THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS  SECTION,  THE
 DEPARTMENT  SHALL  TAKE FEASIBLE ACTIONS TO CONSERVE MONARCH BUTTERFLIES
 AND THE UNIQUE HABITATS THEY DEPEND UPON FOR SUCCESSFUL MIGRATION. THESE
 ACTIONS MAY INCLUDE, BUT ARE NOT  LIMITED  TO,  HABITAT  RESTORATION  ON
 DEPARTMENT  AND  STATE  OWNED  LANDS,  EDUCATION PROGRAMS, AND VOLUNTARY
 AGREEMENTS WITH PRIVATE LANDOWNERS.  THE  DEPARTMENT  MAY  PARTNER  WITH
 FEDERAL  AGENCIES,  STATE  AGENCIES,  NONPROFIT  ORGANIZATIONS, ACADEMIC
 PROGRAMS, PRIVATE LANDOWNERS, AND OTHER ENTITIES THAT UNDERTAKE  ACTIONS
 TO CONSERVE MONARCH BUTTERFLIES AND AID THEIR SUCCESSFUL MIGRATION. WHEN
 UNDERTAKING  ACTIONS  TO CONSERVE MONARCH BUTTERFLIES AND THEIR HABITATS
 PURSUANT TO THIS SECTION, THE DEPARTMENT SHALL USE  THE  BEST  AVAILABLE
 SCIENCE AND CONSIDER, AS APPROPRIATE AND FEASIBLE, ALL OF THE FOLLOWING:
   1.   RESTORING  OR  REVEGETATING  MONARCH  CATERPILLAR  HABITAT  USING
 REGIONALLY OR LOCALLY APPROPRIATE NATIVE  MILKWEED  SPECIES  AND  NATIVE
 NECTAR PLANT SPECIES;
   2.  CONTROLLING  NONNATIVE  WEED SPECIES THAT THREATEN NATIVE MILKWEED
 SPECIES, AND CONTROLLING PESTS AND DISEASE, USING CURRENT  BEST  MANAGE-
 MENT  PRACTICES  CONSISTENT  WITH  INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES
 THAT POSE LOW RISK TO MONARCH BUTTERFLIES AND THEIR HABITAT;
   3. CONTROLLING PEST  MANAGEMENT  PRACTICES  THAT  MAY  BE  HARMFUL  TO
 MONARCH BUTTERFLIES, THEIR FOOD OR THEIR HABITAT;
   4.  INCORPORATING  DIVERSE  TREE SPECIES, STRUCTURES, AND ARRANGEMENTS
 WHEN RESTORING OR ESTABLISHING WINTER HABITAT  SITES  TO  MATCH  MONARCH
 BUTTERFLY  PREFERENCES FOR TEMPERATURE, LIGHT, MOISTURE, WIND, AND OTHER
 MICROCLIMATE CHARACTERISTICS; AND
   5. INCREASING THE NUMBER OF PARTNERSHIPS AND MAKING THE MOST OF  PART-
 NERSHIPS TO USE RESIDENTIAL AND INSTITUTIONAL LANDSCAPED AREAS, AGRICUL-
 TURAL  NON-CROPPED  LANDS,  TRANSPORTATION  CORRIDORS,  AND CONSERVATION
 EASEMENTS TO CREATE, RESTORE, OR ENHANCE MONARCH BUTTERFLY HABITAT.
   § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.