Traverse City (US) Dec 15 (AP) The monarch butterfly will have to wait several years more to receive protection under the Endangered Species Act despite its declining population.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service will consider the black-and-orange butterfly, once a common sight in backyard gardens, meadows and other landscapes, a “candidate” for designation as threatened or endangered, officials told The Associated Press ahead of an official announcement Tuesday. But there are other species in line ahead of it.

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The monarch's status will be reviewed annually, said Charlie Wooley, head of the agency's Great Lakes regional office.

Emergency action could be taken earlier, but plans now call for proposing to list the monarch in 2024 unless its situation improves enough to make the step unnecessary.

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The proposal would be followed by another year for public comment and development of a final rule. Scientists estimate the monarch population in the eastern US has fallen about 80 per cent since the mid-1990s, while the drop-off in the western US has been even steeper.

“We conducted an intensive, thorough review using a rigorous, transparent science-based process and found that the monarch meets listing criteria under the Endangered Species Act," Fish and Wildlife Service Director Aurelia Skipwith said in a statement.

"However, before we can propose listing, we must focus resources on our higher-priority listing actions.” The delay will enable scientists to continue monitoring the butterfly's numbers and the effectiveness of what Wooley described as perhaps the most widespread grassroots campaign ever waged to save an imperiled animal.

Since 2014, when environmental groups petitioned to list the monarch, school groups, garden clubs, government agencies and others around the nation have restored about 5.6 million acres (nearly 2.3 million hectares) of milkweed plants on which monarchs depend, Wooley said. (AP)

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