历史性交易保留了数百万的君主蝴蝶授粉走廊

A huge swath of land that wasn't being fully utilized has been set aside for monarch butterfly habitat. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the University of Illinois at Chicago have signed an agreement to create habitat for the butterflies on potentially millions of acres along rights-of-way and associated land. The agreement unites more than 45 companies in the energy and transportation fields and private landowners in the voluntary conservation agreement,according to the USFWS。

Although the side of the road might not seem an ideal environment for many species, it's perfect for butterflies and other pollinators. These miles-long buffers along highways and utilities "can support native vegetation, provide refuge for wildlife and connect fragmented habitat," says theXerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, an international nonprofit organization. "They can support native vegetation, provide refuge for wildlife and connect fragmented habitat."

As part of the agreement, landowners will create and maintain parts of their land, carrying out conservation measures to reduce or remove threats to monarch butterflies. Although the agreement specifically focuses on monarchs, the measures areexpected to benefit several other species，特别是授粉的昆虫。

The agreement is important because populations of both the eastern and western monarchs have dropped by more than 80% in the past 20 years. Possiblereasons for the monarch's population declineinclude habitat loss at breeding and overwintering sites, pesticides, disease, logging, and climate change. The USFWS is scheduled to decidein December 2020if the monarch butterfly will be classified as federally endangered under the Endangered Species Act.

Why endangered status matters

在达成协议时，一些企业和土地经理担心，如果君主获得濒危地位，会发生什么，reports Mongabay。They were worried that if they voluntarily created monarch habitat, then new regulations concerning the butterfly's new status would subject them to more rules.

UIC能源资源中心的计划经理Iris Caldwell告诉Mongabay：“有些公司想等待如何发挥清单。”“但是，如果您正在关注您知道我们真的等不及的蝴蝶发生的事情。我们需要尽可能多地在各种不同的景观上创建栖息地。”

Caldwell is part ofRights-of-Way as Habitat Working Group200年,一群组织从私人的尘埃ry, government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and education in the U.S. and Canada. The forum shares ideas and best management practices for creating and supporting rights-of-way for pollinators.

USFWS候选人保护协议（CCA）和Assurances（CCAA）的候选人保护协议（CCA）也涵盖了新的通行权。这些是企业与土地所有者和保护高风险物种的USFW之间的自愿但正式协议。使用CCAA，可以确保土地所有者，如果后来将君主列为濒危物，则不需要在其土地上采取更多的保护措施。

“因此，他们只能像往常一样开展业务。如果他们碰巧在此过程中意外杀死了君主，他们就不会受到濒危物种法律的约束。”生物多样性告诉蒙加贝。“因此，他们应该做的是给那些注册土地的一部分来保护。”

Officials estimate that as many as 2.3 million acres of roadsides and utility lands may be involved in the agreement, becoming habitat for monarchs and other pollinators.

“这是一项净福利协议，”非营利性环境政策创新中心执行董事蒂莫西·梅（Timothy Male），vwin徳赢告诉E＆E；消息。“蝴蝶显然比没有达成协议要好。”