Pollinator Highways

Incorporating Native Plants to the State College Area

Connector in Penns-Brush Valley

Keith Faminiano | LARCH 414 Fall 2022

Strategy

The concept of “Pollinator Highways” is a strategy to utilize highway corridors to support healthy ecosystems and sustainable farming. Highway medians, interchanges and roadsides represent large land areas that may be used to enhance local plant diversity. Under pollinator highway programs, the highway right-ofway (the adjacent land owned by the state), or nearby lands (through acquisition, easements, or permissions) are seeded with plants that support pollinator species in a region. Plants must be carefully selected based on local agriculture practices and livestock. For example, some valued pollinator plants, such as milkweed essential to monarch butterfly migration, can be harmful to certain animals. A management plan should be implemented to maintain and monitor the success of the plantings, and make necessary changes based on evolving land use and agricultural practices.