Only 20 butterflies were counted for the 2025 pre-season monarch butterfly count, according to Charis van der Heide, senior biologist and monarch butterfly specialist with Althouse and Meade Inc.
Only 20 butterflies were counted for the 2025 pre-season monarch butterfly count, according to Charis van der Heide, senior biologist and monarch butterfly specialist with Althouse and Meade Inc. Credit: Pricila Flores / Noozhawk photo

Local butterfly counters predict a low number of monarch butterflies coming through Goleta’s Ellwood Mesa for the 2025 season, but volunteers are determined to restore the area.

The Santa Barbara Bucket Brigade, the City of Goleta and Ellwood Friends are hosting two community volunteer days to transform Ellwood Mesa into a protective space for butterflies to protect them against the winter. 

The first day was scheduled to be Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m, lining up with the first day of the mid-season count. However, Goleta rescheduled the tree planting day to Dec. 6. due to heavy rain. To sign up to be a volunteer, click here.

The Ellwood Main Butterfly Grove, the largest wintering site, saw only four monarch butterflies in 2024.

“To say the monarch butterfly population has crashed at that site would be an understatement,” said Abe Powell, CEO of the Santa Barbara Bucket Brigade, a restoration nonprofit organization. 

The monarch butterfly population has declined over the past two decades, according to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Also, in 2024, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed the butterfly be included in the Endangered Species Act to prevent extinction.

The 2025 early-season count ran from Oct. 18 and recently concluded on Nov. 2. 

Hikers at the Coronado Butterfly Preserve look at a trail sign pointing out the local pollinators, one of which is the monarch butterfly.
Hikers at the Coronado Butterfly Preserve look at a trail sign pointing out the local pollinators, one of which is the monarch butterfly. Credit: Pricila Flores / Noozhawk photo

Goleta’s biological consultants reported 20 monarch butterflies across all of the wintering sites on the Ellwood Mesa.

The next count is for the midseason from Saturday to Dec. 7. The last count, for the late-season count, will run from Dec. 27 to Jan. 11.

“What we are seeing this year across all the overwintering sites that counted so far in California is that it’s going to be another really, really low population year, sadly,” said Charis van der Heide, senior biologist and monarch butterfly specialist with Althouse and Meade Inc.

Biologists count the butterflies at Ellwood sites bi-weekly during the season.

The next butterfly count is scheduled for Monday, according to van der Heide.

One of the main reasons Goleta has seen fewer butterflies is because of the dried-out eucalyptus trees, which endangers public safety and monarch butterflies, according to city staff findings in 2017.

Volunteers plan to plant about 40 trees and 400 native plant seedlings on Saturday at the Coronado Butterfly Preserve.
Volunteers plan to plant about 40 trees and 400 native plant seedlings on Saturday at the Coronado Butterfly Preserve. Credit: Pricila Flores / Noozhawk photo

The long-term drought not only dried out the 25% of trees in 2017 but also killed the leaves, leaving butterflies no place to cluster, according to city staff.

Saturday’s workday is dedicated to reducing the fire risk by replacing the dead trees by planting about 40 living trees and about 400 native plant seedlings, according to Powell.

“The simple answer is, if we want the butterflies to come back, we need to fix the problem, and that is what we are doing,” he said.  

Pricila Flores is a Noozhawk staff writer and California Local News Fellow. She can be reached at pflores@noozhawk.com.