Staff from the Natural Resource Group and Dave Lentz, Wisconsin DNR’s HCP Coordinator salvage Karner blue butterfly eggs from a utility corridor in central Wisconsin prior to construction work. -- Photo by Dave Lentz, Wisconsin DNR

Cathy Carnes from the Green Bay Ecological Services Field Office worked with Enbridge Energy Company and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources on a reclamation plan for the Karner blue butterfly.  The butterfly is federally-listed as endangered.

The reclamation plan was developed to offset habitat losses associated with the installation of two new underground petroleum pipelines in Wood and Adams County, Wisconsin.  The project will result in the temporary loss of 9.1 acres of butterfly habitat. 

That loss will be more than offset by the restoration of about 65 acres of habitat in the project corridor.  To further conserve the butterfly, Enbridge Energy and the Wisconsin DNR salvaged Karner Blue eggs from the construction sites prior to construction work.  The pro-active reclamation plan by Enbridge Energy, one of 40 partners to the Wisconsin KBB Statewide Habitat Conservation Plan, is an excellent example of how HCP partners are contributing to the conservation of the butterfly in Wisconsin, and how the HCP accommodates both the partner's, and the butterfly's needs. 

The reclamation plan is anticipated to result in increased numbers of Karner Blues along Enbridge Energy's utility corridor, and promote dispersal of the butterfly along that corridor and into adjacent habitats.