[PCA] Fw: Native wildflowers in roadside seeding as a measure to help pollinators

[Patricia_DeAngelis at fws.gov]

Hello All!

As stimulus package projects get underway, you might find this information 
compiled by Dolores Savignano (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service-Virginia) 
and Deborah Rudis (FWS-Alaska), along with two cents from me, that focuses 
on bringing native plants and pollinators to the attention of DOTs. 

-Patricia

Patricia S. De Angelis, Ph.D.
Botanist - Division of Scientific Authority
Chair - Plant Conservation Alliance - Medicinal Plant Working Group
US Fish & Wildlife Service
4401 N. Fairfax Dr., Suite 110
Arlington, VA  22203
703-358-1708 x1753
FAX: 703-358-2276
Working for the conservation and sustainable use of our green natural 
resources.
<www.nps.gov/plants/medicinal>

- - - - -

Promoting pollinator habitat with native roadside plantings

Does your state have a native plant and/or pollinator-friendly planting 
policy? If not, perhaps you'd like to let them know this about native 
roadside plantings: 

By incorporating native wildflowers in roadside seeding, we are providing 
a reliable food source for native pollinators and helping these important 
species to thrive. 
Many pollinators, particularly bees,  will thrive and move into new areas 
where there is a continuum of native flowering plants that provide a food 
source (flowers that produce the nectar and pollen they require).   When 
flowers are available along a roadside right-of-way, bees can disperse 
greater distances.  For example, bumblebees can travel 5 km and up to 20 
km when foraging.
Small isolated patches of flowers provide food for bees, but are not 
adequate for many species to survive as healthy populations. Just as in 
other wildlife species, bees with larger habitats have less risk of 
inbreeding, which decreases their genetic diversity and puts these species 
at a greater risk of decline. 
Minimize the use of insecticides and time their use to when pollinators 
are least active. 
Time mowing & herbicide use seasonally to minimize impacts to plants 
pollinators rely on for nectar or in the larval stages. 

RESOURCES

Roadside Use of Native Plants, 2000, Bonnie Harper-Lore, Maggie Wilson 
(eds.)  Island Press, 665 pp.  The folks who edited this book work for 
Federal Highways Administration.

Pollinator planting guides by ecoregion from NAPPC - these should all be 
non-invasive plants:  http://www.pollinator.org/guides.htm

Various guides for plantings for native bees from Xerces: 
http://www.xerces.org/fact-sheets/

USDA Planting guides -- May include some non-natives:

        Montana Pollinator-friendly plantings guide: 
ftp://ftp-fc.sc.egov.usda.gov/MT/www/technical/plants/pollinator.pdf

        Pollinator-friendly plants for Oregon: 
http://plants.usda.gov/pollinators/Plants_for_Pollinators_in_Oregon_PM%2013.pdf

        East Texas planting matrix:
http://www.plant-materials.nrcs.usda.gov/pubs/etpmcpo8049.pdf 

        Intermountain plants for pollinators: 
http://www.plant-materials.nrcs.usda.gov/pubs/idpmstn7641.pdf

Native Plant Suppliers: This directory maintained by the Lady Bird Johnson 
Wildflower Center's National Suppliers Directory to find Native Plant 
Suppliers in your area: http://www.wildflower.org/suppliers/

Information on where to find native plants: 
http://www.fws.gov/invasives/what-you-can-do.html#native-plants

Links to invasive and noxious weed lists from USDA - plants to AVOID: 
http://plants.usda.gov/java/noxiousDriver


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