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Mission Vision Who We Are & What We Do Annual Report The Four Pillars of our Work Values Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion What is a Joint Venture?Mission
Our mission is to protect monarchs and their migration by collaborating with partners to deliver habitat conservation, education, and science across the monarch range.
Vision
Our vision is thriving monarch populations that sustain the monarch migration into perpetuity and serve as a flagship for the conservation of other plants and animals.
Values
- Conservation: The grassroots work we do for monarchs and their habitat fosters resilient ecosystems and sustainable actions for the long-term health of our planet.
- Science: The latest research guides our evolving conservation practices and leads our community engagement efforts.
- Inspiration: Educational efforts not only provide the latest scientific information but also inspire others to be curious and take conservation actions that fit the needs and resources of their communities.
- Partnership: Authentic, supportive, and mutually respectful engagement with stakeholders from across North America leads to scalable and sustainable solutions.
- Leadership: Bringing people together allows us all to work more effectively toward common goals while leveraging our various industries, backgrounds, and areas of expertise.
- Inclusiveness: Broad collaboration with stakeholders from diverse backgrounds creates an equitable environment for growth, sustained involvement, and innovation.
The MJV's Commitment to Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
The conservation of monarchs and our environment requires all hands on deck. As a national leader in monarch conservation, we are committed to working to bridge the barriers across our society. We all deserve access to clean air, clean water, and safe outdoor environments in which to live, learn, play, and just be. To achieve our mission, we must foster diversity, equity, and inclusion for all to engage in this work and enjoy nature. We will work to address the biases within ourselves and the inequities within our organization and the network of organizations committed to conservation. We commit to learning, listening, and acting to build a healthier planet and a more just world for people, pollinators, and other living beings.
Who We Are & What We Do
The Monarch Joint Venture is a national partnership dedicated to conserving monarch butterflies and other pollinators. Since 2008, the MJV has brought together partners from across the United States in a unified effort to conserve the monarch migration. This diverse partnership includes federal and state agencies, other nonprofits, community groups, businesses, and academic programs that work together to implement science-based conservation actions in the form of education, habitat, and science. These actions are organized in a regularly updated Monarch Conservation Implementation Framework, which serves as a framework to guide conservation planning for individuals, partners, and other interested stakeholders nationally.
As a leader in monarch conservation, the MJV supports monarch conservation planning and implementation efforts on a broad scale by facilitating information sharing, partnership building, and carrying out identified conservation priorities. We facilitate multiple working groups focusing on topics such as communications, agriculture, and monitoring. Additionally, the MJV funds its partners to carry out priority actions identified in the Implementation Framework. Beyond this, we provide accessible educational information on monarchs and their conservation to various sectors and the public.
To reach our nation’s ambitious monarch and habitat targets, commitment from a diverse set of stakeholders is required. The MJV works to recruit, educate, engage, and inspire to action a broad spectrum of individuals and entities, both partner and non-partner.
Annual Report
Read the 2023 Annual Report. For a copy of previous reports, please email communications@monarchjointventure.org
The Four Pillars of Our Work
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Habitat Conservation
The MJV habitat program works on various habitat projects, including gardens, large-scale restoration projects, and collaborations with agriculture producers. Adding more habitat to the landscape helps monarchs, other pollinators, and a host of other wildlife species.
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Education and Outreach
The MJV education program offers professional development workshops, curated educational resources to share widely within and outside of the MJV partnership, webinars on the latest in monarch conservation, and local outreach to communities where MJV staff are based.
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Research and Monitoring
Through scientific research and monitoring, we gain insights into North American monarch population trends and the factors impacting their decline. MJV coordinates two monitoring programs, conducts primary research projects, maintains a library of monarch literature, and synthesizes the latest scientific findings.
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Partnerships
The Monarch Joint Venture leads a network of over 130 federal and state agencies, non-governmental organizations, businesses, and academic programs working to protect the monarch migration across the United States. The MJV’s network of partners represents a wide range of organizations using an all-hands-on-deck approach to conserving an important species.
What is a Joint Venture?
In 1986, the largest cooperative effort ever convened to protect wetlands, waterfowl, and other wildlife was initiated with the North American Waterfowl Management Plan. In a new approach to conservation, six regional, self-directed partnerships were created. These partnerships of agencies, non-profit organizations, corporations, tribes, and individuals — called Joint Ventures — increase the efficiency and effectiveness of conservation by bringing together the science, people, and resources needed to implement conservation plans within a specific geographical area.
Similar to the migratory nature of birds, monarchs use multiple habitats across a large landscape. This makes the joint venture model ideal for building monarch conservation efforts. The monarch migration was identified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as a threatened phenomenon in 1983, and in 2010 the World Wildlife Fund accredited monarchs as one of the “Top 10 Species to Watch,” in need of heightened monitoring and conservation effort.
Initiated in December 2008, the MJV is a partnership of federal and state agencies, non-governmental organizations, businesses, and academic programs working together to protect the monarch migration across Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Guided by the North American Monarch Conservation Plan (2008) and the regularly updated Monarch Conservation Implementation Plan, the MJV is taking a science-based approach to addressing monarch conservation issues.
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Conservation Implementation FrameworkThis plan identifies and prioritizes current important actions for U.S. monarch conservation to facilitate cooperation and coordination among diverse organizations working together to accomplish our nation’s monarch and pollinator goals.
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Our PartnersMore than 130 partners across the U.S. are working together to conserve the monarch migration.
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Staff and BoardExpertise and guidance from the MJV leadership team is essential to the success of this partnership organization.
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Job OpportunitiesVisit this page to learn about job opportunities with the Monarch Joint Venture!
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Donors and FundersThank you to all who support the Monarch Joint Venture! Find out more about our supporting agencies, organizations, and businesses here.
