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Adopt & Beautify Pollinator/ Monarch Habitat Credit Program

Purpose:  With the assistance of an inter-agency and stakeholder advisory team, PennDOT developed the PennDOT Voluntary Prelisting Pollinator Conservation Program. 

Construction - PSU WO 016


Image of Soil - Project W04 - Potential Use and Applications for Reclaimed Millings

The conservation program is proactive and includes a pollinator habitat credit program for ROWs which will save PennDOT time and money while preserving species being considered by the US Fish and Wildlife Service for listing as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act (e.g., Monarch butterfly, frosted elfin, etc.). The project purposes are to verify, through ecologically and statistically valid studies, that the conservation BMPs proposed in the program will result in the predicted habitat credits and to develop tools in support of the prelisting conservation program. 

Three specific research tasks are being pursued: 1)testing of rapid assessment pollinator habitat protocols for use by lay persons with limited botanical or entomological expertise and limited time; 2)field verification of increased pollinators, increased diversity of pollinators and increased blooming and host plant availability and diversity as a result of daylighting activities; and 3)synthesis and development of education tools to assist PennDOT, PennDOT partners and Adopt & Beautify groups in planning and implementing pollinator habitats.

Anticipated Outcomes

    1. A recommended pollinator habitat rapid assessment protocol

    2. A statistically valid assessment of the pollinator benefits achieved by daylighting

    3. A report detailing the studies and outcomes of #s 1&2 above.

    4. Recorded webinars on a) pollinator meadow establishment implementation procedures and b) planted pollinator flower bed establishment

    5. A syntheses and collection of education tools and resources for the implementation of pollinator gardens and meadows


PennDOT Technical Advisor:
​Toni Zawisa
Project Duration:
1/22/2020 - 1/22/2022
Research Partner:
​Pennsylvania State University
Principal Investigator:
Dr. Carolyn Mahan
Project Cost: