November/December 2016 | The Davey Bulletin 13
Traffic, coffee and frequent restroom
breaks come to mind when driving
on a toll road.
Now – thanks to The Ohio Turnpike's
new native pollinator gardens –
thoughts of bees, butterflies and
wildflowers are floating through
travelers' heads.
The Ohio Turnpike Commission (OTC)
partnered with Davey Resource Group
(DRG) and Keep Ohio Beautiful (KOB)
to create a native pollinator garden
at two service plazas.
Karen Wise, division manager,
Midwest Natural Resource Consulting,
also serves as president of KOB.
Wise envisioned beautifying Ohio's
241-mile turnpike. She met with the
A BEE-UTIFUL POLLINATOR PARTNERSHIP IN OHIO
OTC to introduce KOB and its three
main initiatives: community greening,
recycling and litter prevention.
"We went in to talk about two of
those initiatives and came away
with a project," Wise said. She was
thrilled they latched onto the idea of
a demonstration pollinator garden
because, of all of KOB's main initiatives,
community greening is Wise's passion.
After months of meetings with the
OTC, Wise and Ken Christensen,
senior biologist for DRG, finalized all
aspects of the pollinator garden plan.
The Ohio Turnpike's first-ever native
pollinator gardens were installed on
customer appreciation day at the two
busiest service plazas on the turnpike:
Middle Ridge and Vermilion Valley.
The gardens feature 17 different Ohio
native plant species.
On planting day, the OTC invited
many volunteers, partners and
travelers passing through to take part.
Christensen and Ruth Ann Sobnosky,
principal consultant, talked with the
public about pollinators.
Local KOB affiliate Keep Lorain County
Beautiful got student volunteers from
Lorain County Joint Vocational School's
horticulture program to help plant.
To see this project through, they
had to "plan thoroughly and be
committed," Wise said. And that's
exactly what they did.
Davey Resource Group partnered with The Ohio Turnpike
Commission and Keep Ohio Beautiful to add two new
native pollinator gardens to the Ohio Turnpike's busiest
service plazas. This photo shows before Davey planted
one of the Ohio Turnpike's new pollinator gardens.
After the volunteers helped plant one of
the new pollinator gardens.
Ohio Turnpike Commission Executive Director
Randy Cole and his son helped plant pollinator-
friendly flowers with volunteers from Lorain County
Joint Vocational School's horticulture program.
