“Because we typically view powerline corridors as common and unsightly, we overlook the beauty they hold at a more detailed scale, and more importantly, underestimate their potential as native species corridors.“
Butterfly season is a mid-summer highlight here in western Pennsylvania. On August 1, 2023, Kevin and I spent a glorious few hours in the Powerline Meadow that cuts through White’s Woods Nature Center here in Indiana, Pennsylvania. Within the first hour, we documented eight different butterfly species, including numerous endangered Monarchs, as well as late-stage Monarch caterpillars. I cannot overstate the importance of these inadvertent meadows in powerline right-of-ways in providing critical habitat to support butterflies, as well as native bees and other important insects. Because we typically view powerline corridors as common and unsightly, we overlook the beauty they hold at a more detailed scale, and more importantly, underestimate their potential as native species corridors.
Milkweed is one of the critical plants that turn a powerline corridor into a butterfly and pollinator sanctuary. As soon as the milkweed blooms in July, Eastern Tiger Swallowtails swarm the Powerline Meadow that cuts through White’s Woods here in Indiana County, Pennsylvania. Most of these Tiger Swallowtails were likely born in White’s Woods Tulip Poplar trees, the leaves of which nourish them as caterpillars. By August 1, early flowering milkweed has already gone to seed, but later-blooming milkweed, possibly due to spring mowing by the FirstEnergy power company’s maintenance crew, still produces nectar for pollinators.
Interestingly, in a press release dated July 13, 2023, FirstEnergy Corporation declared a new initiative in developing and maintaining some of its powerline transmission corridors as pollinator meadow habitat. Additionally, they have developed two special seed mixes with native flowering plants and grasses for use in a pilot reseeding program. With an electric transmission system spanning approximately 24,000 miles of lines connecting the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions, including more than 13,000 miles of rights-of-way (ROW) transmission corridors, this initiative could significantly contribute toward helping our many threatened native species.
There are plenty of invasive plants in the Powerline Meadow, like this bull thistle, that crowd out the native plants insects and birds depend on. Butterflies, like this Great Spangled Fritillary, will nectar on flowering invasives, but their larva can’t eat them. The leaves of Violet plants are the only thing Fritillary caterpillars can eat–a plant that fortunately carpets the Powerline Meadow in spring with its lush purple-blue blossoms.
Common Yarrow, another native plant in the Powerline Meadow, attracts other Fritillary butterfly species such as this smaller Meadow Fritillary. There are numerous species of Fritillary butterflies and most are orange with black or brown spots in different patterns.
This White’s Woods Powerline Meadow Spicebush Swallowtail (below left) may have been born a mere few hundred yards away in the lush spicebush understory that covers the headwaters of White’s Run (below right). Its caterpillars can only feed on a few specific plants in the Lauraceae family, such as Spicebush as well as Sassafras, which also grows nearby.
A Silver-spotted Skipper probes milkweed flowers for nectar. Skippers are a type of butterfly, both evolving from moths back in the dinosaur dominated Cretaceous Period (145.5 to 66 million years ago) when they shifted their feeding habits to daytime (unlike the nocturnal habits of moths) to take advantage of flowering plants that were just starting to evolve. Being active during the day meant butterflies could use color to find food and mates, and thus they became colorful. Unlike most of our native butterflies, the Silver-spotted Skipper caterpillar can actually feed on some non-native plants like Chinese Wisteria, or even the dreaded invasive vine, Kudzu! Its caterpillar more commonly feeds on specific native plants such as Black Locust, American Hog Peanut (which is a common plant in White’s Woods) and False Indigo.
A puddling Red Admiral searches the mud of the Powerline Meadow’s gas well road for minerals and moisture. This butterfly will nectar, but it prefers trees sap, rotting fruit, and dung. During its larval stage, Red Admiral caterpillars must feed on plants in the nettle family.
A pretty little Pearl Crescent butterfly (below left). They require leaves of plants in the Aster family, like this Panicled Aster (below right) to feed upon as caterpillars. Like many powerline meadows, the one that cuts through White’s Woods here in Indiana County, PA is full of plants in the Aster family, most which which tend to bloom in late summer through fall.
In July, Monarchs appear in the Powerline Meadow to lay their eggs on milkweed (the only leaves their caterpillars can eat) and then to nectar on the flowers. Monarchs have unlocked the milkweed’s poisonous defenses, and by eating the plant’s poison become poisonous themselves as a defense against predation.
Monarchs have suffered a catastrophic collapse in numbers since the 1980s, declining in some places up to 80% of their former populations. The collapse was triggered by the widespread use of agricultural herbicides that indiscriminately kills the milkweed monarchs rely on. The situation has worsened with loss of habitat due to development, and human-induced global warming, which has caused monarchs to start their spring migration sooner when less milkweed is available. What can be done? Grow milkweed, asters, goldenrods, and other native plants, maybe in the thousands of miles of powerline corridors that crisscross the nation.
This Powerline Meadow, milkweed-munching monarch caterpillar is just about ready for its chrysalis. It is part of a generational migration that was started in Mexico by its great-grandparent last spring. When it flies off toward Canada as a butterfly, its job will be to sire a super-generation of monarchs that will fly all the way back to Mexico. Late-blooming native plants like goldenrod, asters, and boneset–all commonly found in powerline meadows–are the critical nectar refueling stations for the half million monarchs that fly to Mexico each fall.
The Powerline Meadow attracts plenty of other insects in addition to butterflies, like this Hummingbird Clearwing Moth nectaring on Common Milkweed. They require leaves of native honeysuckle (Lonicera), viburnum, hawthorn, snowberry, cherry, or plum to feed upon during their caterpillar stage.
A Widow Skimmer dragonfly hunting the Powerline Meadow for other insects, a favorite being mosquitos.
As we observed in this inadvertent butterfly refuge offered by the White’s Woods powerline meadow, human history and natural history overlap in fascinating and sometimes unexpected ways. As humans, we experience, learn about, and enjoy nature throughout our lifetimes in woods (and their bordering meadows) close to home. In the spirit of Walden, Kevin spent a year connecting with White’s Woods, a 500-acre tract in an Allegheny forest adjacent to our home in Indiana, Pennsylvania. He captured in prose and photographs the four seasons of this near-woods paradise, weaving natural history with human experience to create a geography of place to stand for all similar near-woods places. Published in May 2023 by Rowman & Littlefield (Stackpole Books), Kevin’s book Near Woods: A Year in an Allegheny Forest, is available direct from the publisher or on Amazon. It is also available here in Indiana, PA at locally-owned shops such as The Artists Hand Gallery & Espresso Bar and The Book Nook, as well as at The Historical and Genealogical Society of Indiana County.
Written and photographed by Kevin and Stacey Patrick
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