Energy and transportation lands play a vital role in conserving monarch habitat across the U.S., as noted in the ‘all hands on deck’ paper (Thogmartin et al. 2017). By enrolling in the Monarch CCAA, energy companies and transportation organizations voluntarily commit to implement conservation measures on a portion of their managed lands.
Certificates of Inclusion Issued to Date
What is the timeline for enrollment?
The Monarch CCAA enrollment period is divided into three phases, as shown below. The early enrollment period provided an opportunity for energy companies and transportation agencies to make conservation commitments that would be considered by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) during their listing decision. On December 15, 2020, the USFWS announced that the monarch is warranted but precluded for listing, which means that it is now a candidate species. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has a settlement agreement for publishing a proposed rule if still warranted by December 4, 2024. If the monarch is listed as threatened or endangered, the CCAA will remain open for enrollment until the effective listing date, typically 30 days after the final rule. All applications must be submitted prior to the effective listing date in order to be eligible to enroll in the CCAA.
But don’t wait! Enrollment into the Monarch CCAA provides a number of immediate benefits, your conservation commitments will:
- Provide much needed habitat to the monarch butterfly and could potentially influence the listing decision
- Provide immediate regulatory certainty to your organization and avoid potential gaps in regulatory coverage in the event the monarch is listed sooner than expected
- Demonstrate your organization’s leadership in monarch conservation
- Build momentum across the industry for habitat conservation on energy and transportation lands
- Ensure the success of this unique, cross-sector partnership
Monitoring Conducted for the Monarch CCAA
See how the monitoring efforts have grown since the first year the Monarch CCAA was implemented in 2020! CCAA Partners report on the presence of milkweed and other important data points through biological effectiveness monitoring in order to evaluate if program is providing monarch habitat on CCAA partners’ adopted acres. Many Partners go above and beyond program requirements by monitoring additional plots and utilizing the Pollinator Scorecard, a flexible, multi-tiered tool which aims to establish a consistent monitoring methodology for pollinator habitat on energy and transportation rights-of-way. The graphic below showcases the counties where monitoring has occurred nationwide from 2020 to 2023.
For more information about implementing the CCAA at your organization, visit the Monarch CCAA Toolkit. Have questions? Contact us below.
Resources
Restoring Monarch Butterfly Habitat in the Midwestern US: ‘all hands on deck’
