An extension of the N.C. Department of Transportation Wildflower Program, the Pollinator Habitats effort focuses on sustaining North Carolina’s $78 billion agricultural community.
Pollinators are crucial to its success, as up to a third of food consumed in the state is directly attributed to the work of pollinators.
Habitat loss, disease and environmental changes, however, have contributed to their decline, and the best way to reverse this is a multi-step approach to support pollinators by expanding and protecting habitats.
NCDOT’s Roadside Environmental Unit plants specific species of flowers along the right of way across the state to establish pollinator habitats. These include hybrid sunflowers and canola – extremely pollinator-friendly species and popular with the traveling public – to make the pollinator habitat project self-sustaining.