Roadsides done 'right' are an ecological win

When the Highway Beautification Act was signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson 50 years ago, on Oct. 22, 1965, it was a bold move against a powerful advertising industry to reduce the visual impact of billboards and junk yards along the country's federal highway system.

Lady Bird Johnson was the act's true champion, and for her, it was not just about resolving the degradation of the visual experience of an extensive roadway system, but an opportunity to bring to our roads ecological richness, regional identity and a reminder of our personal connection to nature.

[...] many of these offending species are, or were, on highway department plant lists and have been planted for their ability to colonize quickly to fulfill the vegetative cover required by engineering specifications.

Studies have shown that ecologically designed and managed roadsides can clean water, reduce noise, improve air quality, sequester carbon, conserve native plant species and provide habitat for declining and charismatic species such as the monarch butterfly.

A joint report released earlier this year from the Federal Highway Administration and the Xerces Society suggests that roadsides can significantly contribute to the provision of habitat to honey and native bees that are essential for $18 billion of crop production.

Invasive species must be managed throughout the construction process, soils need to be stockpiled and modified to provide an uncompacted, healthy substrate, and mow and no-mow management protocols must be used appropriately to foster the landscape.