A commitment to habitat protection

Hoosier Energy receives Pollinate Program grant for purposeful vegetation management

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Posted on Oct 01 2024 in A Co-op Perspective, Bartholomew County REMC, Clark County REMC, Daviess-Martin County REMC, Decatur County REMC, Dubois REC, Harrison REMC, Henry County REMC, Jackson County REMC, Orange County REMC, Southeastern Indiana REMC, Southern Indiana Power, WIN Energy REMC
Hoosier National Forest
A right-of-way in Hoosier National Forest was seeded and is growing into an environmentally friendly pollinator habitat.

Two years ago, Hoosier Energy became the first generation and transmission cooperative to receive a Certificate of Inclusion for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Nationwide Candidate Conservation Agree with Assurances (CCAA) for the monarch butterfly.

That commitment to integrated vegetation management and the practices encouraging habitat maintenance and development continues to reap benefits.

This summer, Hoosier Energy was one of 11 utilities awarded a grant from the Pollinate Program at the University of Illinois-Chicago’s Energy Resources Center. The $10,000 award will help develop an integrated vegetation management plan to maintain pollinator habitat on rights-of-way within the Hoosier National Forest.

It sounds simple enough, but the Monarch CCAA tied all the moving pieces together.

The project dates back to late 2021 when Hoosier Energy approached Hoosier National Forest about using herbicidal spray to control incompatible, woody-stemmed vegetation within the rights-of-way instead of mowing and, in some cases, hand-cutting brush.

With the Monarch CCAA in hand in 2022, Hoosier Energy began to file the paperwork necessary to revise its permit with Hoosier National Forest to allow the use of herbicides.

After going through local and regional levels, the request headed to Washington, D.C., where the decision was made that Hoosier Energy qualified for a categorical exclusion of “collaborative effort” with Hoosier National Forest for habitat development thanks to the Monarch CCAA.

“It was the first time that categorical exclusion had been used in this scenario,” said Dave Appel, Hoosier Energy Environmental Team Lead. “It was a landmark decision Washington came up with.”

The paperwork is ongoing with hopes of a final resolution in late 2024, but as this process was taking place, the opportunity to apply for the Pollinate Program award came up.

The goal is to use the grant money to develop new habitats and maintain ones already seeded. There was also a recent meeting with biologists from Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever at potential sites for future habitats.

It’s further proof that the Monarch CCAA was a worthwhile investment.

“This is a big win for Hoosier Energy,” Appel said. “As the first co-op G&T in the country to enter into this agreement, we see so many benefits to our enrollment.”