Legislation could make monarch Wisconsin's official state butterfly

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Bills in both chambers of the Wisconsin state Legislature aim to make the monarch the official state butterfly. 

The push to make the monarch the official state butterfly has been introduced in both the state Assembly (AB 322) and the state Senate (SB 334).

Co-sponsors like State Representative Paul Tittl (R-Manitowoc) say the bill aims to highlight the monarch's role in the ecosystem. 

“We just want to raise the awareness of how important the monarch is to pollination, it is to our whole outside and outdoors," Tittl said. “We have a state cocktail, we have a state flower, we have a state animal, why not a state butterfly?"

Jon Bertolas, the supervisor of the Puelicher Butterfly Wing at the Milwaukee Public Museum, said the monarch is recognizable to many people in Wisconsin. 

“They can be found, essentially, in every county. They have a really wide range over the entire state, so they’re a good representative for the state of Wisconsin. It’s something people know," Bertolas said. 

A study published earlier this year in the journal Science, found that 22% of butterflies in the United States disappeared between 2000 and 2020.

“I think that’s an important part about protecting them, is just making people aware of what they have against them," Bertolas said in response to the proposed legislation. 

“We need to help protect the butterflies, so they are there for us, for our children, and for our grandchildren," Tittl said.

Former State Treasurer Jack Voight, who co-founded the Butterfly Gardens of Wisconsin, is teaming up with 17 other state lawmakers to pass a bill that honors the beloved orange and black pollinator.

If successful, Wisconsin would join at least seven other states in naming the monarch its official butterfly.