UCSB as an organization does not directly participate in efforts to save the monarch butterflies. However, many of us are aware that the monarchs are at risk, especially due to the dead and dying eucalyptus trees in the Butterfly Grove that provide roosts for the butterflies. Students, faculty and staff are actively increasing awareness of this issue. One way we can help is to plant milkweeds in our own homes to allow butterflies to feed and rest.

The primary threat to monarch butterflies is loss of habitat, either at their breeding range or where they overwinter. This is caused by human land use, and by climate change. Ecological restoration (i.e. reverting land back to its natural state) combats loss due to land use. Effects of climate change are harder to fight because climate change is less predictable than human land use, but ensuring that the monarchs displaced by climate have somewhere to go is probably the best option.