In December 2025, the Associated Press reported the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) moved the monarch butterfly’s Endangered Species Act rulemaking from the “proposed rule stage” to “long-term action” in the Spring 2025 Unified Agenda, published September 2025. A final ruling had been expected in December 2025, one year after the proposed rule was published. By moving the rule to long-term action, the agency does not expect a final decision for at least another year.
“The administration remains committed to a regulatory approach that is transparent, predictable and grounded in sound science,” an agency spokesperson wrote in an email to The Associated Press. “Any listing must follow the (Endangered Species Act’s) statutory requirement that determinations be based on the best scientific and commercial data available. At the same time, the administration continues to emphasize voluntary, locally driven conservation as a proven tool for supporting species and reducing the need for additional federal regulation.”
The Monarch Joint Venture and our partners are committed to continuing our work to deliver habitat conservation, education, and science across the monarch range. We urge the public to support monarch conservation by creating monarch and pollinator habitat, participating in community science, sharing information and advocating for pollinators, and supporting our work through financial gifts. Learn more about how you can support monarch conservation at monarchjointventure.org/get-involved.
The Monarch’s Endangered Species Act Journey
The monarch’s journey under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) has been lengthy. In 2014, a petition was submitted to list the species, and the USFWS completed a 90-day finding. From 2015 to 2018, the agency conducted a Species Status Assessment using available scientific data and gathered information about conservation efforts through the Monarch Conservation Database. In December 2020, the USFWS determined the listing was “warranted, but precluded” by higher-priority listing actions for other species in greater immediate danger of extinction. In December 2024, the USFWS published a proposed rule to list the monarch as threatened, along with a 4(d) rule and critical habitat designation. After a proposed rule is published, the agency reviews public comments and new scientific data to make a final decision, which could include listing, reclassifying, delisting, or withdrawing the rule if evidence is insufficient. Final rules are generally published within one year of the proposed rule, though this timeframe can be extended. In this case, a final rule has not been published, and the stage has been changed to “long-term action.” Learn more at monarchjointventure.org/monarch-biology/status/esa
What is the Unified Agenda?
The Unified Agenda helps the public see what the government is working on, understand the status of rules, and know when there are opportunities to provide input. Each entry in the Unified Agenda is associated with one of five rulemaking stages. The rulemaking stages are:
1. Prerule Stage -- actions agencies will undertake to determine whether or how to initiate rulemaking. Such actions occur prior to a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) and may include Advance Notices of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRMs) and reviews of existing regulations.
2. Proposed Rule Stage -- actions for which agencies plan to publish a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking as the next step in their rulemaking process or for which the closing date of the NPRM Comment Period is the next step.
3. Final Rule Stage -- actions for which agencies plan to publish a final rule or an interim final rule or to take other final action as the next step.
4. Long-Term Actions -- items under development but for which the agency does not expect to have a regulatory action within the 12 months after publication of this edition of the Unified Agenda. Some of the entries in this section may contain abbreviated information.
5. Completed Actions - actions or reviews the agency has completed or withdrawn since publishing its last agenda. This section also includes items the agency began and completed between issues of the Agenda.
Source: https://www.reginfo.gov/public/jsp/eAgenda/StaticContent/201704/Preamble_8888.html