a. Every autumn, millions of monarch butterflies migrate south from Canada and the United States to Mexico, stopping at sites along the way, like New Jersey, to feed and reproduce.

b. Reports indicate that migrating monarch butterflies are in “grave danger,” as their colonies in Mexico now occupy the smallest area since records began in 1993.

c. A major cause of decline in the monarch butterfly population is the widespread loss of a plant called milkweed, which monarch butterfly larvae rely on for food.

d. Once widespread throughout the United States, milkweed has seen its range fall 58 percent between 1999 and 2010.

e. Monarch butterfly waystations provide the resources necessary for monarch butterflies to produce successive generations and sustain their spectacular migration through New Jersey and North America.

L.2017, c.250, s.2.