Environmental Triage for Butler’s Garters in Wisconsin

In Wisconsin, where the Butler’s Garter Snake has been a threatened species since 1997, the Department of Natural Resources is adopting a new policy towards protecting the snake. Its previous policy of protecting the snake wherever it was found was proving controversial, especially with developers, and put the snake’s protected status at risk. Instead, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported yesterday, the DNR is practicing a form of environmental triage where the best habitat sites will be protected; developers would have fewer hurdles to surmount on more marginal sites. The DNR hopes to find 65 suitable sites in the state to protect.