State departments of transportation are among parties that have signed onto an historic agreement for protection of monarch butterfly habitat. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the University of Illinois-Chicago signed an integrated, nationwide Candidate Conservation Agreement (CCA) and Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances (CCAA) for the monarch butterfly on energy and transportation lands throughout the lower 48 states. The agreement encourages transportation and energy partners to participate in monarch conservation by providing and maintaining habitat on potentially millions of acres of rights-of-way and associated lands. Actions taken under the agreement may preclude the need to list the monarch or could speed its recovery under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The agreement also provides regulatory assurance and predictability in the event the monarch butterfly is listed as endangered. For more information, link to the Fish and Wildlife Service’s Nationwide Candidate Conservation Agreement web page. (4-8-20)
[close]