Investing in the future

Monarch conservation program approves Great River Energy’s membership in recognition of its work on pollinator preservation

Great River Energy’s application for participation in the monarch candidate conservation agreement with assurances (CCAA) was approved, making the cooperative a formal member of this program.

The CCAA is a voluntary program to create habitat for the monarch butterfly on rights of way and other lands. Electric utilities like Great River Energy have a unique ability to make an impact due to the nature of land used for electric infrastructure.

Great River Energy’s Pollinator Strong initiative is part of the cooperative’s effort to increase acreage of pollinator habitats across Minnesota. It has developed more than 300 acres of pollinator-friendly land and is committed to planting and restoring an additional 300 acres of habitat in the next five years.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) determined in 2020 that listing the monarch butterfly as a threatened or endangered species is warranted but was precluded by higher-priority listings. This decision is revisited by the FWS each December, meaning there is potential for a listing to be proposed any year.

“If the monarch is listed as a threatened species, there would be regulatory complications for utility activities with the potential to impact monarchs or the milkweed plants they rely on, such as vegetation management under our rights of way.”

— Erik Heinen, environmental and sustainability administrator at Great River Energy

The monarch butterfly may be listed as soon as 2025. If this happens, Great River Energy activities that have the potential to impact monarch butterflies or milkweed would need to go through a complicated permitting process.

Participation in the CCAA provides an opportunity for co-ops to improve monarch habitat, streamline conservation efforts, avoid project delays and save money. In addition, Great River Energy’s participation helps to reduce the potential that monarchs will be listed as an endangered species because of the cooperative’s commitment to creating and maintaining their habitats.

Heinen said Great River Energy’s current land management practices meet the requirements of the program and changes are not needed. But the program comes with other requirements, including annual monitoring of the number of milkweed present in randomly selected points.

Areas where integrated vegetation management is implemented on right of way and native prairie will also need to be tracked annually. Great River Energy will develop an implementation plan over the next year, led by environmental services staff with support from the transmission division.

The monarch CCAA benefits Great River Energy by allowing the cooperative to perform certain activities like maintaining and modernizing existing electric infrastructure on land it owns or manages through easements and allowing critical maintenance to continue.

“We pursued this opportunity because our vegetation management approach already aligns with the terms of the agreement,” Heinen said. “We are excited to be part of this program and look forward to continuing to improve the ecosystem for pollinating insects.”