Today, February 26, 2016, WWF-Mexico released the aggregate area for all monarch overwintering colonies this winter, and we are happy to hear there is an increase. The total for this winter is 4.01 hectares, the highest total over the past 5 years. Monarch abundance can fluctuate a lot from one year to the next because of differences in the weather, etc., so it is too soon to see if this trend will continue. The total numbers remain in a long-term decline, however, and monarch habitat is being lost through logging at the sites of the overwintering colonies and declining habitat with milkweed in the central U.S. Conservation efforts must continue.