The National Monarch Butterfly Monitoring Network (Red Nacional de Monitoreo de Mariposa Monarca) is an initiative coordinated by the National Commission for Protected Natural Areas (Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas—Conanp), involving the collaboration of different government institutions, academia and civil society to monitor the monarch butterfly in protected natural areas along their migratory path. The initiative currently covers four regional protected natural area networks (Central, Northeastern, Northwestern and Western), which monitor the autum and spring migrations throughout the northern and central regions of the country.

The monitoring includes identifying the passage, stopover and feeding sites throughout the territories the monarch crosses. One hundred park rangers from the 62 participating protected natural areas (33 federal and 29 state), and 10,000 people in 20 Mexican states, participate in the network. As part of this effort, strategies have been established to conserve the migratory route, and Mexico’s National Monarch Butterfly Conservation Program (Programa Nacional de Conservación de Mariposa Monarca) has been strengthened. During the fall 2015 season, more than 4,000 monarch records were obtained along the migratory path.

• Gloria Tavera and Marco Castro (2016), Central Region and Neovolcanic Axis Bureau (Dirección Regional Centro y Eje Neovolcánico), National Commission for Protected Natural Areas (Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas—Conanp).