In celebration of National Pollinator Month, Columbia Gas is giving bees and butterflies two new safe spaces to buzz around.
The program that transforms rights of way into pollinator habitats will expand this year with two new sites – at Wellington Park in Lexington and Kentucky State University in Frankfort – and additional acreage at the University of Kentucky Research Farm on Iron Works Pike.
The new sites will be converted by removing existing vegetation and planting a specialized seed mixture to grow plants like milkweed, Gray Goldenrod, baby’s breath and White Prairie clover. Under the care of the company’s vegetation management team, the sites usually mature in about three years.
The pollinator initiative aims to reduce the company’s carbon footprint, mitigate maintenance costs and reduce the use of vegetation control measures that could harm the ecosystem. Columbia Gas maintains the ROW over about 2,600 miles of natural gas pipeline. Kentucky has 11 pollinator sites.
Land Tech Susan Murray said the Kentucky program expansion is a “true example of the power of partnerships” the company has nurtured with contractors and community leaders.
“We’re excited about how Kentucky communities have really embraced these sites as a way to prevent the extinction of bees and Monarch butterflies that are so critical to our agricultural system and way of life,” she said.
The Wellington Park site is made possible in part thanks to a $10,000 grant from the University of Chicago Rights of Way Habitat Working Group secured by Stantec, a longtime environmental contractor for NiSource, the parent company of Columbia Gas. The team worked with Celebrate Lexington, a beautification organization, and Lexington Parks & Rec.
Roundstone Native Seed, located in Cadiz, Kentucky, will provide the pollinator plant seed mix. The site was prepped last fall for seeding later this month.
“The company is known nationwide for developing customized seed mixes that incorporate plants native to the region of the planting site,” Susan said. “It will be special to use a mix made in Kentucky for Kentucky. The hope is that using a special mix will make for a hardier, more sustainable garden.”
Susan said the Kentucky State University (KSU) site will also be unique as the program’s first hillside site.
“We are using a new product, a special pollinator seed mat that will prevent erosion and keep the seed intact as it grows,” she said.
The 10-acre site was made possible by the company’s collaboration with bee expert Tammy Horn Potter, a former state apiarist who now teaches at KSU. Work on the site will begin in October.
Susan said the UK Research Farm site, established a few years ago, will be expanded to about 5 acres.
Additional pollinator sites in Kentucky include:
- Along Georgetown Road at Citation Boulevard in Lexington, behind the Boyd CAT Dealer
. - Across from the Kentucky Vietnam War Memorial on Coffee Tree Road in Frankfort
- At the corner of Man O’ War Boulevard and Versailles Road at the Blue Grass Airport
- At the Kentucky American Water tower site on Mercer Road in Lexington
- On Leestown Road at the entrance to Masterson Station Park in Lexington
- On the inner loop of the Bypass in Georgetown near US 62
For more information about our pollinator sites, click here.
