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--></style></head><body lang="EN-US" link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class="WordSection1"><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Hi everyone,</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">The monarch butterflies overwintering in California will soon be leaving their coastal groves and those in Mexico will head north. During the spring and summer they spread out across North America, finding milkweed and laying eggs, before the late-summer generation migrates to overwintering sites. Where monarchs go and where they breed is pretty well known in the eastern half of the continent, but the details of where they go to breed during these months and their migration routes <a href="http://www.xerces.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/MonarchMap-NatureServe-10.20.png">across the western states</a> are less clear. The Western Monarch Milkweed Mapper, a web-based citizen science project, is being launched today that will engage people throughout the western states in helping to fill these gaps and support conservation of this remarkable butterfly—a task that has greater urgency with the <a href="http://www.xerces.org/blog/2017-monarch-numbers-are-down-lengthening-a-worrying-trend/">recent population estimates</a>—and the plants on which it relies.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">There’s lots of information about WMMM in a blog written by Xerces’ Stephanie McKnight and a press release. Feel free to share these—and to contribute records of milkweeds and monarchs!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Blog: <a href="http://www.xerces.org/blog/help-researchers-track-milkweeds-and-monarchs-across-the-west/">http://www.xerces.org/blog/help-researchers-track-milkweeds-and-monarchs-across-the-west/</a> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Press Release: <a href="http://www.xerces.org/2017/02/16/new-western-monarch-and-milkweed-website-launched/">http://www.xerces.org/2017/02/16/new-western-monarch-and-milkweed-website-launched/</a> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Matthew</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">----------</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">Matthew Shepherd</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">Communications Director</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><img border="0" width="128" height="48" id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image003.jpg@01D28C10.5C248BB0" alt="Xerces-logo-CMYK-email_Outlook"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">Protecting the Life That Sustains Us</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">Connect: </span><a href="http://www.xerces.org/"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">www.xerces.org</span></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt"> </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/xerces.society/"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">Facebook</span></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt"> </span><a href="https://twitter.com/xercessociety"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">Twitter</span></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt"> </span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/xercessociety/?hl=en"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">Instagram</span></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt"> </span><a href="http://www.xerces.org/blog/"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">Blog</span></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt"> </span><a href="https://visitor.r20.constantcontact.com/manage/optin?v=001HTk7N6nZumLPinBr8VACbNdTXCe732bGu6KpqC13JAKPti_HBe5xyr7t0p4mDfKe2dOsd-TB1qvv772s6GQfVa_SbKKfwBiwl4blH4KvCjq4dpmA2M9UNZ2axlQwu_1Gvjrl2Rb53WUZwsddwCzyorgxedLAaMy3"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">E-newsletter</span></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">628 NE Broadway, Suite 200, Portland, OR 97232, USA</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">Office: (503) 232-6639 x110</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">Cell: (503) 807-1577</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="mailto:matthew.shepherd@xerces.org"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">matthew.shepherd@xerces.org</span></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p></div></body></html>