ComEd Marks Earth Day by Improving Habitat for Imperiled Monarch Butterflies
April 22 2016 - 1:33PM
Business Wire
Increased milkweed provides improved food and
breeding sources
As part its Earth Day celebration and commitment to the
environment, ComEd announced today a new effort to help the state’s
monarch butterfly population by adjusting the prairiegrass mixture
that it has planted for years along Illinois power lines as part of
its prairie restoration program. The energy company is increasing
the amount of milkweed seed, on which monarch butterflies depend,
by more than 30 percent. ComEd made this announcement at the Peggy
Notebaert Nature Museum in Chicago, where experts lauded the
move.
The monarch butterfly population has seen a dramatic drop in the
last 20 years. In 2014, 90 percent of the population had been lost
due to several factors, including losses of food plants in their
breeding grounds. Milkweed is a critical plant for monarch
butterflies because it is the only nutritional source for monarch
caterpillars.
“Many of ComEd’s Rights of Way are in the breeding grounds of
the monarch butterflies,” said Isaac Akridge, Vice-President of
Support Services for ComEd. “By increasing the milkweed seed in our
prairie mix, we hope to create a stronger environment for the
monarch butterflies and help bolster their population.”
ComEd’s prairie restoration program helps restore native prairie
habitats on transmission Rights-of-Way (ROW) and buffers in an
effort to provide habitat for native plant and animal species. As
part of the work, invasive plant species that interfere with native
prairie plants and ComEd’s ability to maintain its transmission
lines are removed and native prairie plants are reintroduced.
Although Illinois is known as the "Prairie State", less than 0.01
percent of Illinois' original 21 million acres of prairie remains
today. Most remaining prairies survive only as tiny, isolated
patches and many species of prairie plants and animals have either
disappeared or are in rapid decline due to loss of habitat. The
successful installation of a prairie habitat along ComEd ROW helps
restore the natural environmental back to Illinois.
ComEd will begin including the higher levels of milkweed seeds
for planting in the winter, which is when the seeds naturally get
planted.
“Each year at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, hundreds of
thousands of people connect with a wide variety of beautiful
butterflies in our Judy Istock Butterfly Haven,” said Deborah
Lahey, president and CEO of the Chicago Academy of Sciences / Peggy
Notebaert Nature Museum. “Outside the Museum, our butterfly
conservation initiatives help give endangered and imperiled
butterflies a new chance at life. The commitment of ComEd to its
prairie program and to increase the milkweed in the area will give
people the chance to see and enjoy more monarch butterflies,
Illinois’ official state insect.”
Commonwealth Edison Company (ComEd) is a unit of Chicago-based
Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC), the nation’s leading competitive
energy provider with approximately 10 million customers. ComEd
provides service to approximately 3.8 million customers across
northern Illinois, or 70 percent of the state’s population. For
more information visit ComEd.com and connect with the company on
Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
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version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160422005965/en/
Media Contact:ComEd312-394-3500
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