CERRO PRIETO, Mexico — President Felipe Calderon unveiled a sweeping plan Sunday to curb logging and protect millions of monarch butterflies that migrate to the mountains of central Mexico each winter, covering trees and bushes and attracting visitors from around the world.
The plan will put $4.6 million toward additional equipment and advertising for the existing Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, covering a 124,000-acre swath of trees and mountains that for thousands of years has served as the winter nesting ground to millions of orange- and black-winged monarch butterflies. Calderon said it would help boost tourism and support the economy in an impoverished area where illegal logging runs rampant.
“It is possible to take care of the environment and at the same time promote development,” the president said.
