Delaware highway project leads to 43-acre bee-supporting meadow

Posted on April 11, 2019September 19, 2021 by Caroline Hernandez

(WHYY) April 09, 2019

When Route 301 was built, the Delaware Department of Transportation was required to offset some of the land it paved over with property left in a natural state. It spurred planting 250,000 tree saplings along the new 14-mile highway in Southern New Castle County but also gave birth to a 43-acre wildflower meadow. The first-of-its-kind offset project seeks to fulfill DelDOT’s environmental requirements while at the same time supporting bees, butterflies and other wildlife. Read More

How can the power industry help the monarch butterfly?

Posted on April 9, 2019January 21, 2020 by

(EPRI Journal) April 4, 2019

Study identified 10.7 million acres in transmission rights-of-way as potential monarch habitat—about 8.5% of the total needed for monarch restoration and a potentially meaningful contribution. Tim Lohner, PhD consulting environmental specialist at American Electric Power (AEP), estimated conservatively that utility conservation efforts on these land corridors could yield enough milkweed for more than 12 million monarchs, or about 5% of a fully recovered population. Read More

Beneath Solar Panels, the Seeds of Opportunity Sprout

Posted on April 9, 2019January 21, 2020 by Dinaluz Torres

(NREL Transforming Energy) April 2, 2019

Low-Impact Development of Solar Installations Could Be Win-Win-Win for Food, Water, and Renewable Energy

On a humid, overcast day in central Minnesota, a dozen researchers crouch in the grass between rows of photovoltaic (PV) solar panels. Only their bright yellow hard hats are clearly visible above the tall, nearly overgrown prarie grasses—which are growing exactly as expected…Read more.

ATC Awards Funds to Communities for Planting Projects

Posted on February 15, 2019July 25, 2019 by

(T & D World) February 08, 2019

American Transmission Co. has awarded collectively $58,600 to 27 recipients across its service area to plant trees and low-growing vegetation through two programs – the Community Planting and Pollinator Planting programs. Now in its sixth year, ATC has given more than 200 community awards for these projects totaling nearly $360,000. Read More

Solar Farms Shine a Ray of Hope on Bees and Butterflies

Posted on January 18, 2019July 25, 2019 by

(Scientific American) January 18, 2019

A trend of planting wildflowers on solar sites could maintain habitat for disappearing bees and butterflies. Read More

In bid to help bees, Xcel to require vegetation disclosure in solar RFPs

Posted on October 15, 2018July 25, 2019 by

(Utility Dive) October 12, 2018

Xcel Energy Minnesota will be the first utility in the U.S. to require disclosure of what type of vegetation will be planted with solar sites in all its future request for proposals. Read More

Roadside Refuge: ODOT Works to Protect Ohio’s Pollinators

Posted on September 18, 2018July 25, 2019 by

(Monarch Joint Venture) September 17, 2018

If you’ve driven along Ohio’s roadsides lately, you may have noticed something’s different. Less of the roadside is being mowed, and milkweed and other native wildflowers are flourishing in those areas. Read More

Rehabilitating Bee and Butterfly Populations by Allowing Them to Live at Solar Energy Facilities

Posted on August 22, 2018July 25, 2019 by

(PV Buzz) August 21, 2018

By studying solar energy facilities with pollinator habitats on site, researchers hope to rehabilitate pollinator populations that play a crucial role in the national and global agricultural industries. Read More

Got Milkweed? Pollinator Week Is a Time to Shine for Co-op Preservation Efforts

Posted on June 21, 2018July 25, 2019 by

(America’s Electric Cooperatives) June 18, 2018

Electric cooperatives with territories that overlap critical monarch breeding areas and migration routes are devoting land and labor to reverse the decline of monarch butterfly and other key pollinator species. Read More

UIC-led partnership aims to help create, preserve monarch habitat

Posted on June 21, 2018July 25, 2019 by

(UIC Today) June 19, 2018

A new, multi-sector partnership coordinated by the Energy Resources Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago is working together to develop a voluntary conservation agreement to aid the plight of the monarch butterfly. Read More

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