The Conversation
New England power line corridors harbor rare bees and other wild things
To many people, power line corridors are eyesores that alter wild lands and landscapes, even if they are necessary sites for transmission lines that deliver electricity.But ecologically, the swaths of open, scrubby landscapes under transmission lines support a rich and complex menagerie of life, absent in the woodlands and forests that bound them. In New England, where my co-author and I are based, these corridors sustain native animals and migrating birds and insects including dozens of bees, one of which is so rare it was thought to have been lost decades ago from the United States.My colleagues and I have walked power line corridors for more than three decades, recording the butterflies, birds and bees that thrive in these sunny openings. I was drawn to them when I began working at the…
