You don’t often think of a government transportation department working to save the environment but that’s exactly what the Georgia Department of Transportation is doing. We’ve all seen the beautiful wildflowers growing along Interstate medians in the summer months. Now GDOT will be working with a non-profit environmental group, called The Ray, to establish monarch butterfly pollinator meadows at nine G-DOT highway right-of-way sites across the state. The nine meadows represent Georgia DOT’s first installed acres banked through the Nationwide Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances (CCAA) for the Monarch Butterfly on Energy and Transportation Lands. It’s a voluntary conservation initiative that encourages transportation agencies to create, maintain and manage monarch butterfly habitat on transportation lands. Georgia DOT Commissioner Russell R. McMurry, P.E. said in a press release that “Monarch butterfly populations have been declining in recent years, and the new GDOT pollinator sites demonstrate how transportation infrastructure and environmental stewardship can create meaningful conservation opportunities. McMurray added that The Ray has long been a valued and trusted partner of the department, and they are pleased to continue that collaboration to help protect and preserve monarch butterfly habitats. Through this collaborative effort, G-DOT prepared the roadside sites and implemented conservation mowing practices, adjusting mowing schedules to allow native…
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