A monarch butterfly is perched upon a
coneflower in a pollinator pit stop along
The Butterfly Highway.
A Different Kind of Highway
Quarry ‘Pit Stop’ has Statewide Impact on Environmental, Educational Initiative
Black-eyed Susans will do the trick. Maybe some
native honeysuckle or common milkweed. While
many North Carolina highways are built with the
company’s aggregates, The Butterfly Highway has come
together with materials just a tad more brilliant.
“Instead of planting your standard fescue grass, we’ve
planted a specially designed pollinator mix,” says
Mid-Atlantic Division Environmental and Sustainability
Manager Brian North. “It’s a blend of native plants and
flowers that will attract bees, butterflies and other types
Maiden Quarry’s contribution to The Butterfly Highway as it appeared in January 2017 (left). By the spring, the land had
blossomed into a lush habitat for pollinators (right). Hjarding, the Butterfly Highway’s founder, says the pit stop will
fully mature in its third year.
16 November/December 2017 The Conveyor | www.martinmarietta.com
of wildlife. It will take some time to mature, but even
now – in its early stages – our garden is having a local
impact on a number of species.”
The brainchild of Angel Hjarding, Ph.D., The Butterfly
Highway began in 2014 as a doctoral research project at
the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
“On a large scale, we’re trying to build our own network
of safe places for pollinators, many of which are experiencing
global population declines,” Hjarding says, adding
that the initiative is today run by the North Carolina
COURTESY OF THE NCWF
COURTESY OF THE NCWF
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