[Pollinator] Butterfly guide for highway design

[Kimberly Winter]

Submitted by NAPPC Partners Dave Harrelson and Dolores Savignano:

Road builders get butterfly guide

A guide to help road builders protect the habitat of the UK's dwindling
population of butterflies has been published.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4794543.stm

The Butterfly Handbook encourages engineers to include features and plants
that will encourage wildlife.

Conservationists hope better designed roads will provide breeding sites for
the creatures, as well as acting as links between suitable habitat.

The handbook has been co-published by English Nature and the Highways
Agency.

English Nature's chief scientist Dr Keith Duff said the guide showed that
new roads were not necessarily bad news for local wildlife.

"It actually depends where you put them, and how you design and build
them," he said.

"We all know that roads often destroy habitat, break it up into bits and
cause pollution, but if designed properly you can create habitat corridors
that are really good for wildlife."

The publication offers guidance on habitat sizes, species' locations,
breeding areas and colonisation patterns.

'Crucial link'

Conservationists say butterflies have probably never been as endangered as
they are today following decades of loss of key habitats.

Road verges can help conserve butterflies and other wildlife as they are an
opportunity to provide suitable breeding habitats for many species
Dr Martin Warren, Butterfly Conservation

Of the 56 species of butterflies found in the UK, 26 are recognised as
species that need their habitat protected in order to ensure their long
term survival.

In the handbook's foreword, Dr Martin Warren, chief executive of Butterfly
Conservation charity, said: "This report is extremely valuable and timely
as it concerns an increasingly important habitat for butterflies and other
insects.

"Road verges can help conserve butterflies and other wildlife as they are
an opportunity to provide suitable breeding habitats for many species, and
provide crucial links between the patches of habitat that remain," Dr
Warren added.

In the past, wildlife campaigners and construction firms have been involved
in lengthy battles about the building of new roads.

One of the most famous clashes was back in 1996, over the proposed 30-mile
(48km) route for the Newbury bypass.

The handbook lists a number of recent projects that included
butterfly-friendly measures, including an extension of the M40 in
Oxfordshire that was rerouted to protect the local habitat of black
hairstreak butterflies.

English Nature's Dr Duff hopes the guide will help engineers and
environmentalists form a closer working relationship.

"These days, conservationists seek to engage with road builders at the
start in order to build an understanding," he said.

"You can then make sure that things are designed to work for people and
work for wildlife."






~Kim

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Kimberly Winter, Ph.D.
International Coordinator
North American Pollinator Protection Campaign
Internet: www.nappc.org, www.pollinator.org
Ph: (301) 219-7030