Grab your lunch and join us for a webinar, “Endangered Species Updates: Implications of the Northern Long Eared Bat Endangered Potential Reclassification & Monarch Butterfly Candidate Conservation Agreement & Assurances.” 

Presenters:

Jill Utrup (USFWS)

Mercy Manzanares (HDR)

Christopher Smith (MnDOT)

Description:

Despite efforts to save the Northern Long Eared Bat (NLEB), there has been a marked population decline even with the implementation of tree removal windows since 2015. A representative from the USFWS will speak to the implications of reclassifying the NLEB from threatened to endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). These changes are slated to occur in December 2022.  The USFWS is currently developing guidance for projects that may already be approved or initiating construction while the NLEB is still listed as threatened. This guidance and consultation streamlining tools will be discussed.

In December 2020, the USFWS stated that the Monarch Butterfly warranted listing under the ESA but was precluded until 2024. The listing of this transnational species will change the “business as usual” approach used by many across the energy and transportation sectors. The Rights-of-Way as Habitat Working Group at the University of Illinois-Chicago is leading a national, multi-sector collaborative effort to develop a voluntary conservation agreement to provide habitat for the monarch butterfly. More than 40 organizations from across the energy and transportation sectors worked together to develop a Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances (CCAA) that encourages landowners and land managers to adopt measures to create net conservation benefits for the monarch butterfly. We will discuss the monarch butterfly and this novel agreement.

Date: Monday, June 27th

Time: 12:00-1:00pm

RSVP: Email minnesotaaep@gmail.com by Friday, June 24th. *This event is open to members and non-members!