Late last August, armed with a sweep net and identification guides, Sarah Piecuch was looking for butterflies. She trudged through waist-deep grasses, trying to keep her footing steady while tallying those she found fluttering through the sky or perched on nearby flowers.
But Piecuch isn’t an entomologist, and she wasn’t walking in a pristine meadow. Rather, she’s a wildlife biologist for the New York State Department of Transportation, and she was surveying the land beside busy highways in hopes of learning what kind of management can make these long, thin strips of habitat most beneficial for pollinators. Her work is just one of a number of projects across the country aimed at using the space along interstate highways to help wildlife.
Threats and Opportunities
In 1956, the U.S. Congress passed the Federal-Aid Highway Act creating the nation’s interstate highway system. This legislation connected the country, creating a web of freeways that now totals some 47,000 miles — nearly enough to circle the Earth twice. Construction of the interstate system allowed for efficient, fast, and safe car travel, making it easier for people to commute and transport goods.
The establishment of the interstate highway system didn’t just connect the contiguous United States, though. Inadvertently, an entirely new place was created as well: the highway right-of-way. Also known as the verge, the right-of-way was originally just the linear boundary between roads and other land uses. Yet how people view and manage the verge has markedly changed over time, creating a physically distinct space to manage and eventually an ecosystem unto itself. The interstate highway system that was so successful at connecting people and cities across the U.S. meant big changes for nonhuman life also.
If properly managed, roadsides represent a relatively open habitat that could benefit a variety of species of conservation concern.“Roads represent one of the biggest threats to wildlife for a number of reasons by…