The MJV is pleased to announce that East Central Energy has joined the partnership! East Central Energy (ECE) is a member-owned electric distribution cooperative that serves over 64,000 homes, farms, and businesses in east central Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin.
No stranger to the need for more monarch and pollinator-focused conservation efforts, ECE is enrolled in the nationwide monarch Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances (CCAA) through the University of Chicago’s Energy Resource Center (MJV Partner) and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. They also manage right-of-way habitat on over 4,000 miles of overhead power lines, using best practices to promote, create, and maintain low-growing plant communities that support pollinators and other wildlife. ECE has also converted over five ECE-owned acres to native pollinator habitat and they hope to continue to add to their conservation portfolio by installing habitat around more substations. Once their native plants are fully established, ECE hopes to collect seed to share with their members and offer outreach programs about monarchs and pollinators.
With an understanding that the energy sector plays an integral role in monarch and pollinator habitat conservation, ECE hopes to share their experience enrolling in the monarch CCAA with others in the MJV partnership and other collaborators. ECE presents a new opportunity for the MJV network to engage directly with the energy sector, and work together to help shape communications and outreach efforts within the ECE footprint. To learn more about East Central Energy and their work for pollinators, please visit: https://eastcentralenergy.com/powering-our-pollinators
The Monarch Joint Venture is a 501c3 nonprofit organization and a national partnership of federal and state agencies, non-governmental organizations, businesses and academic programs working together to conserve the monarch butterfly migration. The content in this article does not necessarily reflect the positions of all Monarch Joint Venture partners. Header photo courtesy of East Central Energy.