Program helps improve roadway safety, prevent against invasive species and provide erosion control.
LINN COUNTY, IA – July 26, 2013 – Linn County is one of 34 counties in Iowa to receive native grass and wildflower seeds for roadway plantings that will improve roadway safety and habitats thanks to partnerships with the Federal Highway Administration Transportation Alternatives Program, the Iowa Department of Transportation Living Roadway Trust Fund and the University of Northern Iowa Integrated Roadside Vegetation Management Program.
The total award for all counties was $255,000.00 to plant approximately 1,140 acres of Iowa roadsides to native prairie. Linn County received enough seeds to plant 100 acres of public road rights-of-way. The value of Linn County’s share of seeds is $34,587. Linn County’s Secondary Road Department Roadside Management Program will be responsible for administering the program in Linn County.
Native right-of-way plantings filter water that runs off road surfaces, provide habitat for pollinators and songbirds, improve erosion control and weed control, and provide surface roughness to retain rolling and skipping snow during winter months thereby reducing the possibilities of roadway icing along wider hard surface roadways.
2013 Iowa counties receiving seed:
Adair, Allamakee, Benton, Buchanan, Butler, Cerro Gordo, Chickasaw, Dallas, Des Moines, Fayette, Franklin, Guthrie, Hardin, Iowa, Jasper, Johnson, Jones, Linn, Mahaska, Marion, Mitchell, Montgomery, Muscatine, O’Brien, Pocahontas, Palo Alto, Polk, Pottawattamie, Sac, Scott, Shelby, Story, Van Buren and Washington.
For more information about native plantings in roadsides, visit www.uni.edu/irvm.