NYPA Steps Up Efforts to Preserve Monarch Butterfly Habitats Along Its Transmission Corridors

Earlier this year, NYPA signed a voluntary conservation agreement proactively maintaining habitats for monarch butterflies – a declining species – along its rights-of-way under Authority-owned and operated transmission lines throughout the State of New York.

This enrollment in the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s Monarch Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances (CCAA) not only benefits monarchs by ensuring the availability of high-quality habitat, but also benefits NYPA by providing regulatory assurances that streamline land management activity.

“The Power Authority is proud to play a role in the preservation of the monarch butterfly species,” said President and CEO Justin E. Driscoll.

He continued, “Enrolling in this agreement demonstrates NYPA’s commitment to proactive, voluntary support for biodiversity. We’ve long recognized the importance of pollinators in the ecosystem and have taken this action to ensure our transmission corridors provide a high-quality habitat for monarchs visiting our great state in the summer and through the fall.”

Populations of monarch butterflies have been declining for years, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed in 2024 to list the species as ‘Threatened’ under the Endangered Species Act.

For decades NYPA has employed right-of-way vegetation management practices that enhance wildlife and pollinator habitat. More recently, the Power Authority has begun converting turf grass and traditional landscaping into pollinator meadows and native plant gardens that support biodiversity.

Enrolling in the Monarch CCAA is the culmination of more than three years of work, including development of a new model of habitat quality, conducting inventories of monarch habitats, and working through a lengthy application process.

More information on the Monarch CCAA can be found here and here.