Environmental Stewardship
Co-op Honored for Species Protection
As director of maintenance services at EnergyUnited, Jimmy Brown has defended Earth’s smallest creatures along the Statesville, N.C., electric cooperative’s rights of way.
Jimmy Brown with Pollinator Partnership’s Victoria Wojcik with an award recognizing his preservation work. (Photo By: Natasha Suber)
Recently, Brown’s efforts to create safe havens for bees, butterflies and other pollinators earned him international recognition and first-time honors for any utility from the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign, a project of the national Pollinator Partnership.
Brown was one of five honored with the 2011 Pollinator Advocate Award in a ceremony at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
Brown’s longtime work includes creating a network of habitat spanning more than 1,000 miles, locating and preserving three federally endangered flowers, and convincing the co-op to hold conferences on the issue with other wildlife groups.
“The work that can be done on utility rights of way is stunning for wildlife,” said Victoria Wojcik, associate program manager at the San Francisco-based partnership. “So when someone steps forward and puts their toe in the water, we want to be sure and shine a light on them.”
Brown and his three-person crew at EnergyUnited have relied on herbicides to remove undesirable species of trees and allow the native grasses, forbs, shrubs and vines to flourish in the rights of way corridor.
“Utilities normally protect rights of way through mowing,” or bush-hogging, Brown explained. “But the problem is that when you mow, you never see what grows underneath. With herbicides, you can be more selective and target unwanted species that shade out the grass and prevent other plants and seeds from growing.
“Our goal is to provide safe and reliable electric service to members, while making sure that we’re trying to protect the environment and enhance wildlife,” Brown continued. “The integrated vegetation management program at Energy United has created wins environmentally in the local community and for our members.”
Besides the Pollinator Partnership award, which stemmed from nine nominations from co-op and state wildlife personnel, Brown has received other habitat restoration and stewardship awards, including one from the governor in 2007.
EnergyUnited and the partnership are considering a project to protect the East Coast migratory route of monarch butterflies, said Wojcik. “There’s heavy habitat loss in the migration corridor, which is causing the butterflies to change direction.”
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