Highway in bloom

Lions Club turned weedy roadside into pollinator paradise

By Nikki Rajala

A sharp eye is required to spot flowers if you’re a passenger traveling at highway speeds near Avon —and even more so, to notice the bees and butterflies that abound. But those drivers on Interstate 94 who exit at #153 will be richly rewarded with an array of blooming wildflowers and dozens of tiny pollinators visiting them.

In the autumn, look for asters, goldenrods, oxe eye sunflowers, long-headed coneflowers and native grasses towering over them — like big bluestem, Indiangrass and switchgrass. Those plants replaced the vervain, blazing star, purple prairie clover, brown-eyed Susan and mullein of mid-July. Regardless of the flowering plants, pay particular attention to the honeybees and butterflies that flit around.

Cheri Appel spots a monarch butterfly pausing on a milkweed flower and she quickly slips out her phone to take a photo.

“That’s the proof,” she said. “That’s why our Avon Hills Lions Club chose this project.”

When Mike and Cheri Appel moved to Avon in 2018, they joined a newly-chartered Lions Club, and the group selected an environmental signature project as their unique way of providing service to the community.

“This is the first pollinator project on a federal highway in Minnesota,” Mike said, “though people might notice similar projects in the medians and ditches of state highways. Seeding was done in the spring of 2024 after an excellent kill of existing vegetation. The timing was perfect in that all native plants which were present prior to that time survived and were still viable. Our first summer, we had some late summer flowers but this year is the first full year of bloom.”

Their seed mix included 34 flowers and forbs and 10 grasses. So far, the group has observed 23 of the flowers and forbs and seven of the grasses. They’re always on the lookout for the rest — and for the pollinators which abound.

“For several years, we’ve heard that bee numbers are down, monarch butterflies are in decline and that habitat in general was not conducive to pollinators,” Mike said. “While a lot of wildlife habitat has been dedicated to prairie grasses and trees, much less has been devoted to pollinators. But pollinators are critical to farmers for their crops and horticulturists need bees for the flowers, plants and other vegetable and fruit crops.”

Now the club is focused on weed control, an ongoing need, Mike explained, digging with his hoe at several noxious weeds.

“Club members are out here whenever time allows to keep the thistle from going to seed,” he said. “While we thought we had prepared a really clean seed bed going in, before that were years and years of dormant bull thistle, Canadian thistle and other noxious weeds waiting to take over — nobody cared for these areas. Now we want to get ahead of the weeds so they don’t take over the beautiful other wildflowers and native grasses.”

The group does two things for maintenance.

“First, we clean up the area by picking up garbage in the spring and again in the fall — up to 10 people each time for about two hours, so around 20 to 40 hours total,” Cheri said. “Second is removing thistles, vines and woody materials in the seeded area. We do at least three or four weedings a year, with six to eight people taking part. About 15 to 30 hours each time is required to stay ahead of the thistles in particular.”

Though the joy they feel seeing the pollinators is recent, the club began organizing this project about five years ago, just before the pandemic. They waded through the slow review processes with many state departments which often required revisions to their plans. Being this was a new project on a federal interstate, rules and procedures had to be established for the initial contract.

“By about year three, we had almost given up,” Mike said. “We couldn’t seem to get the Minnesota Department of Transportation review process completed. There were staff changes (three times), legal language that needed review, meetings to resolve some of the wordage and procedures — and all of this  while we navigated through COVID protocol. Meanwhile, the cost of installation was going up and funding sources hadn’t been secured yet. COVID really threw a wrench into the project but, fortunately, I usually don’t take ‘no’ without trying to get things completed. Boiler plate contracts don’t fit everything. It was difficult getting the Department of Transportation to change regulations in some of the areas of the contract. There were so many levels of review it made your head swim. Also, the federal government needed to be involved. We had to work out an issue about providing workman’s compensation for volunteers, which took a while to resolve.”

The last item to sort out before signing the contract was the storm water permit from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. That meant a phone call to the person in charge to get them to send a letter to the state saying a permit was not required in this case as the group was seeding directly into the sod without disturbing the soil.

“We held fundraisers — pork chop sales and coupon book sales,” Cheri said. 

 The Stearns County Pheasants Forever Chapter helped pay for the seed and the seeding, a donation the Appels said they all very much appreciated.  And the Stearns County Soil and Water Conservation District helped them with the survey, seeding mix and seeding plan write-up.

“It’s very satisfying to see the results of our labor with all the flowers, bees, butterflies and insect pollinators,” she said. “We also have observed several small creatures and birds — striped gophers, rabbits and nesting pheasants — using this area.”

The Appels were glad to share that Brian Sheehan, the Lions Past International President, has visited the pollinator project during its development and has been one of their cheerleaders.

“Working to save the environment is one of the focus projects with Lions International,” Mike said.

Even with all the complicated issues and permits, their club embraced the project and has used it as a showcase.

Groups have inquired about the process of establishing a pollinator project in their area. The Avon Hills Lions Club is glad to share information — what to expect, a list of vendors that can provide site preparation, tree removal, seeding and maintenance —  because they know other sites along the interstate highways may have groups willing to take the next step. Now that issues have been ironed out, it should be easier for the next projects.

“We had hoped to interest the University of Minnesota in doing a research project covering species of flowers, species of insects, animals, etc. using the area,” Cheri said. “We put together a proposal describing the previous condition of area when we started out  — then 90 percent grass with a few scattered flowers. Now the numbers of pollinator species have increased at least a 100-fold.”

The remarkable success shows the club’s diligence. It’s worth your time to drive that way, pull off and see for yourself all the flowers and grasses hosting dozens of tiny pollinators.

Wildflowers are planted on both sides of Interstate 94, east of Avon. Take Exit # 153 and find the frontage roads along both sides (Norway Road or Co. Rd. 50) that parallel the highway. Within a half mile or so,  the planted areas are visible (gated and locked), but photos may be taken through the chain link fences. People must wear visibility vests to be allowed in the pollinator areas.