Essays on Invertebrate Conservation

WINGS ESSAYS ON INVERTEBRATE CONSERVATION THE XERCES SOCIETY SPRING 2015 CONTENTS Roads are ubiquitous in the modern landscape. This issue of Wings examines some of the consequences they carry for insects and other invertebrates. Advocacy and Collaboration On Behalf of Invertebrate Conservation Scott Hoffman Black Page 3. Pollinator Conservation at Sixty Miles an Hour Jennifer Hopwood and Matthew Shepherd More than seventeen million acres of roadsides stretch across U.S. landscapes. Man- aged with care, these can provide habitat for invertebrates and other wildlife. Page 5. Blue Highways, Green Rockworms, Golden Stoneflies Celeste Searles Mazzacano Rainfall and snowmelt flowing off roads into rivers and streams can have negative impacts on aquatic invertebrates, but with care those can be mitigated. Page 10. The Butterfly and the Road Grader Scott Hoffman Black Maintenance on rural roads in Yamhill County, Oregon, has been changed to accom- modate the needs of an endangered butterfly and its caterpillar host plant. Page 16. Conservation Spotlight The Greater Atlanta Pollinator Partnership is becoming a model project for collaboration to address the needs of pollinators in urbanized landscapes. Page 22. Invertebrate Notes A roundup of new books and recent research. Page 24. Staff Profile Meet Jennifer Hopwood, Midwest senior pollinator conservation specialist. Page 26. Xerces News Updates on Xerces Society projects and successes. Page 27. 2 WINGS Advocacy and Collaboration On Behalf of Invertebrate Conservation Scott Hoffman Black The Xerces Society has always held an gressive or overtly political or tied to a interesting position at the intersection narrow mantra and consequently, are of advocacy and collaboration. From not particularly happy to support such its very beginning, the work Xerces did things. But I grew up in a house where for butterfly conservation both pushed the word was very positive. In fact, ac- agencies to protect these beautiful ani- cording to Merriam-Webster, the defi- mals and reached out to help them with nition of advocacy is “the act or process on-the-ground activities that would im- of supporting a cause or proposal.” My prove essential habitat. mom spoke out for better workshop The word “advocacy” elicits a range facilities for people with learning dis- of responses. Some people see it as ag- abilities and my dad led an effort that A hallmark of Xerces is that staff members are always prepared to engage directly with people to effect change. Here, Mace Vaughan, co-director of our pollinator program, speaks during a field day about creating habitat on farms. Photograph by Paul Jepson. SPRING 2015 3 ultimately stopped a large dam being insecticide spraying in Idaho, helped built on the Niobrara River— the last shape policies to protect roadless for- relatively wild river in Nebraska. And ests, and worked to get pollinators added now, as a parent myself, I work with my to the Farm Bill as a primary resource wife to ensure a quality education for concern. We have partnered with or- our children. ganizations across America to present In my career as a conservationist, workshops that have trained more than I have advocated for many causes. En- thirty thousand farmers and other land dangered species, old-growth forests, managers to better manage their land- and wild rivers each need strong cham- scapes for pollinators and other ben- pions. But I’ve also strived to work with eficial insects—and our work has led to as many people as possible for the com- more than two hundred thousand acres mon cause of a better environment. If of flowering habitat for pollinators. We the people I oppose come to the table, have also protected dozens of imperiled I am willing to roll up my sleeves and species and the habitats on which they help with the hands-on work of species depend, as well as worked to improve conservation and to provide the techni- broad landscapes for a whole suite of cal assistance that land managers often species. lack when it comes to invertebrates. Whether it is petitioning for the One way that Xerces advocates for mardon skipper under the Endangered the most vulnerable species is by peti- Species Act and then actively participat- tioning the federal government to list ing in with a multi-agency group to put species under the Endangered Species in place conservation practices so that Act. Although some people see this as it ultimately did not need to be listed, controversial, the provision allow ing or advocating for federal protection for “petitioning” of the U.S. Fish and Wild- the monarch butterfly while at the same life Service was written into the ESA as time leading an effort to cooperatively a way for scientists and other citizens protect and restore habitat that this spe- to provide information to the USFWS cies will need to survive across vast land- so they can effectively ensure that the scapes, our goal is ensure that no more most vulnerable species are considered. species will go extinct as happened to In the early 1970s the Smithsonian pe- our namesake, the Xerces blue. titioned the USFWS to protect sixty spe- Melded together, advocacy and col- cies of plants. If a petition does not have laboration combine in powerful ways. merit the USFWS can simply deny it. The We will continue to stand up for species Xerces Society is known for preparing at risk but at the same time we are pre- scientifically defensible petitions that pared to sit down with organizations provide substantial information with and individuals and do what’s necessary which the USFWS can determine de- for invertebrate conservation. After all, cline and threats. in the end it really does not matter how By using two apparently opposing species and their habitats are protected approaches, Xerces has accomplished a or who does the protecting, as long as great deal. We have protected hundreds these species retain their rightful place of thousands of acres from unneeded in the world. 4 WINGS Pollinator Conservation at Sixty Miles an Hour Jennifer Hopwood and Matthew Shepherd With the landscape flashing by as one immense amount of land is dedicated to speeds down the freeway, thoughts of roadsides, which form one of the most pollinators may be limited to a brief extensive networks of linear habitats on glimpse of honey bee hives in an or- earth. Roadways that cross natural areas chard, a bright patch of flowers beside have negative consequences, but those the road, or an unfortunate butterfly that pass through urban areas and in- tossed in the slipstream. Indeed, pol- tensely farmed landscapes often provide linators and roadsides might seem like the only natural or semi-natural habitat an incongruous pairing, given that in the vicinity. roads are known to fragment habitat, Considerable impetus was given to aid in the spread of invasive plant spe- pollinator conservation along roadsides cies, and contribute to animal mor- in June 2014, when President Obama is- tality. But, despite the risks associated sued a memorandum titled “Creating a with roads themselves, roadsides can Federal Strategy to Promote the Health often be of benefit to pollinators. An of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators.” Millions of acres of land are adjacent to urban and rural roads throughout the United States, offering many opportunities to create habitat in landscapes that would otherwise be barren. Photograph copyright iStock.com/dlewis33. SPRING 2015 5 Recognizing that the decline of pollina- reproduce, or to overwinter. Pollinators tor populations has broad and poten- might visit roadsides to sip nectar from tially long-term consequences for food wildflowers or may just pass through, security, the economy, and biodiversity using them as corridors between frag- across the United States, the President’s ments of other habitat, but roadsides memorandum outlined steps to create can also support entire life cycles, nur- a national strategy to address the prob- turing pollinators from egg to adult. lem. The Federal Highway Administra- Roadside pollinator communities can be tion was among the agencies tasked quite diverse, and can include bees and with identifying conservation strategies butterflies with general habitat needs to stem the loss of pollinators. (bumble bees, for example, which will In the United States, the best esti- forage on a range of flowers and nest in mates are that federal or state highway old rodent burrows), as well as species agencies manage well over seventeen with very specific, narrow habitat re- million acres of roadside lands, and, in quirements—such as the Fender’s blue addition, national parks and national butterfly (featured in the article on page forests manage thousands of miles of 16), which has a limited range and relies roadways. These lands can support a di- upon a single species of lupine as its cat- versity of flowers and may have reduced erpillar host plant. exposure to insecticides; moreover, the Not all roadsides are equally valu- soil in such areas is rarely disturbed to able habitat. Those that are mown or the same degree as other soils nearby— intensively sprayed with herbicides, on farms, in gardens, in industrial dis- maintained as turf grass, or planted tricts —and undisturbed soil is critical with introduced grasses such as brome for ground-nesting bees. or fescue support far fewer numbers and From the perspective of a pollinator, species of pollinators than those with roadsides can serve as places to refuel, to a diversity of native plants. Vegetation Long-horned bee (genus Svastra) drinking nectar from black- eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta). Photograph by Bryan E. Reynolds. 6 WINGS In many areas, roadsides are mowed short and thus offer little support to invertebrates and other wildlife. Where they are allowed to grow, especially if they have diverse flowers, roadsides can provide important habitat.

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