Scientists reported this month that illegal loggers cleared 10 hectares (25 acres) of forest in the heart of Mexico’s Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve last year. The recurrence of commercial-scale illegal logging in the reserve adds to perils the species already faces in its migration between the oyamel-fir and pine forest in Central Mexico and its far flung habitat in the United States and Canada. Illegal logging has long been a threat to the 56,259-hectare (217-sq-mi) butterfly reserve, which the monarch finds uniquely suited as a wintering ground. But the vigilance of the communities in and around the woodland, along with cooperation by government authorities, had succeeded in keeping illegal loggers at bay over the past few years, even though low... [Log in to read more]