Colorado’s Pollinator Highway

An unanimous Joint House Resolution named Interstate 76 from Denver to the Nebraska state line the Colorado Pollinator Highway. Now, the Colorado Department of Transportation is starting the work to get the highway to live up to all that buzz.

Obtain the education you need to know about Colorado’s Pollinator Highway.

A Michael Conti Video Productions was contracted to initiate filming activities associated with the establishment of the pollinator highway. This process took over six months in order to cover two planting seasons, one in the spring and the other in the fall. After which, the editing process commenced in order to have three CDOT approved videos to share with the public.

All of this started with a 2014 presidential memorandum encouraging departments of transportation to “identify opportunities to increase pollinator habitat along roadways and implement improvements, as appropriate.”

I-76 was chosen because it is a federal highway that runs through environmentally sensitive areas like the eastern plains, where agriculture is one of the primary economic drivers. It is also a key area for migratory butterflies.

“Pollinators are vital to our ecology, our economy and our industry,” said Carol Parr, regional environmental manager for CDOT. “It just takes a small shift in how we regularly do our work to help provide an environment where they can thrive.”

One of those shifts involves mowing. Crews will still mow the grass 15 feet from the roadway, but during the main pollinator months (April to September), the other grassy areas will not be mowed.

Managing noxious weeds will also be more specialized along the corridor. In fact, CDOT will have a roadside manager for the corridor, who will also oversee the statewide vegetation management program. That program will promote genetically appropriate plants that support self-sustaining dynamic ecosystems, which are resistant to invasion by non-native or invasive species.

“While I-76 is our designated corridor, we fully expect to take lessons learned here to other areas of the state where we can assist with pollinators,” Parr said.

CDOT is also partnering with several other groups, like the Butterfly Pavilion, Colorado Pollinator Network and People Pollinators Action Network, to assist with mapping of existing roadside habitat, and helping to restore and improve those habitats.

https://www.codot.gov/news/2018/july/i-76-is-buzzing-about-new-pollinator-highway-designation-1

---

Here are some pollinators in Colorado:

• Bees: Colorado has 946 species of native bees
• Butterflies: Colorado has 250 species of butterflies
• Moths: Colorado has over 1000 species of moths
• Hummingbirds: Colorado has 11 species of migrating hummingbirds that arrive in April and usually leave in September
• Beetles: Beetles are among the pollinators keeping nature vibrant
• Bats: Bats are important pollinators
• Flies: Flies are important pollinators
• Ants: Ants are important pollinators
• Birds: Birds are important pollinators
• Plants: Some great pollinator plants for Colorado include indigo bush, antelope-horns milkweed, purple poppy mallow, white prairie clover, narrow-leaf coneflower, and Indian blanket

To make a beneficial pollinator garden, To make a beneficial pollinator garden, you need a water source, a sunny area with windbreaks, and a garden that offers year-round blooms for pollinators to visit. Native Colorado flowers are great for native bees, and non-native flowers like sage will be smothered in bees come midsummer.