What effect will the HCP have on existing management practices on partner lands?
The HCP allows land managers to continue land management (e.g., forestry, roadway and corridor maintenance) in and around Karner blue habitat, provided they modify their activities to minimize negative impacts on Karner blues and their habitat. Karner blue conservation is not incompatible with land uses in central and northwestern Wisconsin. In fact, long-term maintenance of Karner blue habitat requires the types of periodic clearing (e.g., mowing and logging) that are common in Wisconsin’s Karner blue range. HCP partners employ several techniques to protect Karner blues and their habitat. These include: timing of mowing and herbicide applications to protect summer-flowering lupine and nectar plants, creation of dispersal corridors between Karner blue-occupied sites, and maintenance of “shifting mosaics” on forest land. Shifting mosaics are arrangements of forest parcels, logged on a rotating basis to maintain Karner blue habitat.
