HARLINGEN — There’s no guarantee your car or truck will fly, but at least it will look a little prettier with the long-awaited monarch butterfly license plates.
The monarch Keep Texas Wild plates, with one large butterfly and three smaller ones which appear to be flying off the plate, go on sale Monday.
Like all the Keep Texas Wild plates, the monarch specialty license costs $30 a year, which is in addition to your regular annual license plate fee. They’re available for cars and trucks, RVs, trailers and motorcycles.
“The monarch butterfly is a species that is beautiful and iconic in that it is one of nature’s great migration stories,” said John Davis, TPWD’s wildlife diversity program director. “This species migrates through Texas from Mexico in the spring making its way to the northern extremes of the U.S. and into Canada, then reverses that feat in the fall to overwinter in Mexico.
“This great migratory story is in jeopardy with the overwintering population experiencing steep declines in the last decade,” he added. “By adding the monarch to our family of plates, we hope to increase support for this beautiful migration event and, through our conservation efforts, brighten the future for this and many other species.”
The monarchs can use the help.
In December, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that due to steep declines in monarch populations, the butterfly should be added to the official list of threatened and endangered species. But due to other priorities, USFWS decided to postpone the butterfly’s inclusion at the time.
In the past two decades, researchers have documented major declines in North American monarchs overwintering in Mexico and California, where the butterflies cluster.
Eastern population numbers —monarchs are counted by the size of the area they occupy, at about 8.5 million per acre — fell from about 384 million in 1996 to a low of 14 million in 2013.
That was bumped up to about 60 million in 2019 but still is perilously low compared to the butterflies’ population highs.
Of the $30 the TPWD receives for each monarch plate purchased, $22 goes to wildlife conservation efforts here in Texas. The TPWD’s conservation license plate program has raised around $10 million in the last 21 years for wildlife and habitat conservation in Texas.
The conservation plate designs include a horned lizard, largemouth bass, hummingbird, Western diamondback rattlesnake, white-tailed deer, bluebonnet, desert bighorn sheep and more. They can be viewed online at https://conservationplate.org
ORDERING PLATES:
No need to wait for vehicle registration renewal. Cost will be pro-rated.
Order Online at https://conservationplate.org
You won’t need your Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) or current plate number when you order, only when you pick up your new plates. Your plates will be mailed to your local county tax office for pickup in two to three weeks and they should call you when they’re in. If not, call TxDMV at 1-888-368-4689 for the status of your order. Clicking the “order” button will transfer you to www.myplates.com which processes orders for the TxDMV.
Order in person: Visit your local county tax office to order. Your plates will be mailed to your home in two to three weeks.
