There is new hope for the future of a population of endangered butterflies in the American state of California.Last year, a count of the orange-and-black Western monarchs reached a record low of about 1,900.But this year, butterfly counters are reporting tens of thousands more Western monarchs.The insects live along California's central coast in winter.The non-profit science group Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation carries out the official study every year.It just opened the first period of this year's count on November 13.But it says early reports are positive.Sarina Jepsen is director of Endangered Species at Xerces Society.She says volunteer counters have reported the presence of as many as 50,000 monarchs in the last few weeks.Jepsen says the finding is "…not a recovery, but we're really optimistic and just really glad that there are monarchs here and that gives us a bit of time to work toward recovery of the Western monarch migration."
