Manassas Circle Butterfly Survey 2022

 By: Ashley Studholme

Many of us pause when a butterfly flutters across our path. These winged insects inspire awe and curiosity, whether a small summer azure or the striking tiger-swallow tail. They even play a crucial role in maintaining our ecosystem health; they provide food for an untold number of birds and other animals and pollinate plants as they nectar.

If you've ever held a butterfly in your hand, you'd be keenly aware of how fragile they are. Unsurprisingly, they're very sensitive to environmental changes. Monitoring butterflies helps us to better understand our ever-changing environment and encourages us to be good stewards of the land. Just this month, the IUCN announced that the migratory monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus plexippus) is now listed as endangered on the IUCN red list. Monitoring efforts like this one alongside effective conservation stewardship and policy are key to their recovery.

Linking sustainability to transportation and landuse

By Charlie Grymes

In 2022 the Board of County Supervisors (BOCS) appointed eight high-energy, independent-thinking members.  In just its second meeting, the Sustainability Commission sent a resolution to the BOCS calling for it to "immediately adopt a practice of assessing the energy and sustainability impacts of each new land use, housing, and infrastructure (water, transportation, energy) decision requiring board approval."

If the county starts to measure the impacts of new road projects, data centers, and sprawl development... oops.  More of the same development will generate more carbon-rich emissions, and in 2020 PW County joined with other members of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments to do our share of reducing emissions that increase global warming. If we measure impacts, we will document that token chargers for electric vehicles at McCoart Administrative Center will not be enough.