Like many people in the world, I love butterflies. I like to watch them flit around and I will frequently get my camera out to take photos of them.

On Dec. 10, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced plans to consider monarch butterflies as threatened, which would grant them species-specific protections under the Endangered Species Act.

I personally don’t think they are becoming extinct and are in need of protection. After living in the country for many years, I have observed several years when butterflies are plentiful and others when they can’t be found.

Furthermore, Kristen Lundh, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said that the agency chose to propose listing monarchs as threatened rather than endangered because they’re not in immediate danger of becoming extinct across all or a significant portion of their range. Monarchs west of the Rockies have a 95% chance of becoming extinct by 2080, she said, but most of the U.S. monarch population — 90% — can be found east of the Rockies and that population faces a 57% to 74% probability of extinction by then, she said.

That doesn’t seem like a dire situation to me. Also as I mentioned earlier, as with many species, butterfly populations fluctuate from year to year depending on the weather conditions.

I worry that the effort would negatively impact farmers and ranchers. It may come as a surprise to some people but often efforts to protect a species results in taking of land, prohibiting land uses and increase the regulatory burden on farmers and ranchers.

For example, the listing would prohibit landowners from making changes to the land that make it permanently unusable for the species. And who is going to make that determination? But just to be fair to the USFW, people probably won’t be penalized for accidentally hitting monarch butterflies with their vehicles.

What a relief that is.

As many of us understand, farmers and ranchers are natural conservationists and their lands are home to many species that wouldn’t be there if those lands were developed into housing, apartment complexes, parking lots, shopping malls and high rises.

Maybe the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service should start controlling those types of land development as that type of activity threatens every species in the world.

According to the American Farm Bureau Federation, “Today, more than 140 million privately owned farm and ranch acres are enrolled in voluntary federal conservation programs, providing habitats for countless animals and insects.”

I encourage farmers and ranchers to make their opinions known during the 90-day public comment period. After the comment period, the USFW will decide whether to tweak the proposal, publish the listing or drop the effort. The agency has until December of 2025 to publish the listing if it moves forward.