Georgia Welcome Center to receive pollinator garden this Saturday

A group effort of a number of prominent Georgia entities will not only benefit a popular state welcome center, but will also highlight a travel corridor poised to become the world’s most sustainable highway.

The Georgia Conservancy, Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia (KMMG), the Georgia Department of Transportation (Georgia DOT), The Ray and the Chattahoochee Nature Center will all use shovels and work gloves on September 17 to install a 7,000-square foot pollinator garden at the Georgia Visitor Information Center (VIC) on Interstate 85 in West Point. The pollinator garden will be the first installed at any Georgia DOT facility. 

Using compost generously supplied by John Flournoy of Columbus, more than 2,000 transplanted pollinator plants from the Chattahoochee Nature Center, and supplies provided by the Georgia Conservancy, KMMG team members will have the opportunity to get their hands dirty and lay some of the ground work necessary for an ambitious project being developed along this important travel corridor.

“A central part of the Kia Way is self-responsibility and our team members are proud to lead by example through The Ray as we usher in the green highways of tomorrow,” said KMMG CAO Stuart C. Countess. “This project is a tremendous way for KMMG to give back to our community and set a new standard for regenerative, restorative and sustainable roads.”

The Ray is an 18-mile corridor on Interstate 85 from the Georgia-Alabama line to Exit 18, including the cities of West Point and LaGrange, which was named in memory of sustainable business pioneer Ray C. Anderson. The 2015 installation of Georgia DOT’s first solar-powered electric vehicle charging station at the West Point VIC, followed by this week’s pollinator project are just a couple of the “low hanging fruit” recommendations made in the Mission Zero® Corridor report developed by a graduate-level studio at the Georgia Tech College of Design. The studio and report, which was funded by the Ray C. Anderson Foundation and Interface, and facilitated through the Georgia Conservancy’s Blueprints for Successful Communities Program, envisions The Ray as an incubator of cutting edge technologies that will transform the transportation infrastructure of the future to be safer, more climate-friendly and more economically generative.

“The Georgia Conservancy is excited to see some of the early important aspects of the Mission Zero Blueprints Report come to life thanks to the work of The Ray, KMMG and Georgia DOT,” says Georgia Conservancy President Robert Ramsay. “We remain dedicated to working with our partners to ensure that The Ray becomes a world-class example of what a highway should and could be.”

In 2014 and June 2016, the Georgia DOT State Transportation Board passed resolutions endorsing the application of innovative, safe and sustainable demonstrations on The Ray, paving the way for transportation innovation in Georgia and beyond.

Last month, Georgia DOT won the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC) Pollinator Roadside Management Award, after being nominated by The Ray. The award recognizes transportation agencies that lead the field in pollinator-friendly roadside practices, which can play a significant role in boosting pollinator habitat nationwide, including habitat for honeybees and the monarch butterfly.

“In 14 years, Georgia DOT has planted approximately 2,700 acres of wildflowers statewide using funds from the sale of wildflower-themed vehicle license plants,” said Sam Wellborn, member of the State Transportation Board representing District Three. “The wildflower program is important to Georgians, the business community and drivers passing through our state. Georgia DOT is committed to growing the program and beautifying more miles of Georgia roads and highways.”

Every fall, Georgia DOT produces and distributes thousands of wildflower seed packets to educate, raise awareness and increase plantings statewide.  In 2016, the seed packets are being produced in partnership with The Ray. The packets feature a pollinator mix of regional, native wildflower and pollinator plants.

Pollinator species, which include bees, butterflies, birds and bats, are in significant decline around the world. Wintering Monarch Butterflies, for example, have declined over 75 percent since the mid-1990’s, according to the Chattahoochee Nature Center. The National Pollinator Garden Network estimates that pollinators are responsible for one out of every three bites of food that we eat daily because over two-thirds of our crops are dependent on pollinators.  More nectar and pollen sources provided by flowering plants and trees are necessary for reviving the health and populations of pollinators.

List of Pollinator Plants

Echinacea purpurea, Purple Coneflower

Asclepias tuberosa, Butterfly Weed

Monarda punctata, Spotted Horse Mint

Monarda fistulosa, Wild Bergamot

Pycnanthemum incanum, Short-tooth Mountain Mint

Eryngium yuccafolium, Rattlesnake Master

Helianthus mollis, Downy Sunflower

Muhlenbergia capillaris, Pink Muhly Grass

Schizachyrium scoparium, Little Bluestem

Asclepias verticillata, Whorled Milkweed

Symphyotrichum novae-angliae

Solidago ‘Fireworks’, Fireworks Goldenrod

Ratibida pinnata, Yellow Coneflower    

Purpledisc Sunflower, Helianthus atrorubens

Rudbeckia fulgida, Brown-eyed Susan

Pycnanthemum tenuifolium, Narrowleaf Flattop Mountain Mint

Baptisia tinctoria, Horsefly Weed

About the Georgia Conservancy

Since 1967, The Georgia Conservancy’s mission is protect and conserve Georgia’s natural resources through advocacy, engagement and collaboration. Its vision of a Georgia where people and the environment thrive is forwarded through programmatic work in sustainable growth, land conservation, advocacy, coastal protection and stewardship trips. Learn more at: www.georgiaconservancy.org

About Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia

Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia, Inc. (KMMG) is the first manufacturing site in North America for Kia Motors Corporation based in Seoul, Korea. With an annual capacity of 360,000 units, KMMG is located on 2,200 acres in West Point, Georgia, and began mass production on Nov. 16, 2009. KMMG is home to the Sorento CUV and the Optima mid-size sedan, two of the brand’s top selling models in the U.S.

About the Georgia Department of Transportation

The Georgia Department of Transportation is committed to providing a safe, seamless and sustainable transportation system that supports Georgia’s economy and is sensitive to both its citizens and its environment.  Visit www.dot.ga.gov.  Follow us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/GeorgiaDOT) and Twitter (http://twitter.com/gadeptoftrans).

About The Ray

The Ray is a proving ground for the evolving ideas and technologies that will transform the transportation infrastructure of the future, beginning with the corridor of road that is named in memory of Ray C. Anderson (1934-2011), a Georgia native who became a captain of industry and was recognized as a leader in green business when he challenged his company, Atlanta-based Interface, Inc., to reimagine the enterprise as a sustainable company – one that would pursue zero environmental footprint. Chaired by Ray’s daughter Harriet Langford, The Ray is an epiphany of the Ray C. Anderson Foundation. Learn more at www.theray.org.

About Chattahoochee Nature Center

Celebrating our in 40th anniversary 2016, Chattahoochee Nature Center is a private non-profit environmental science that is one of North Atlanta’s major attractions. CNC’s 127 acres along the river in Roswell includes a Discovery Center with the only Nature Exchange in the SE that serves as the interpretive center for the river; plus garden, woodland and river boardwalk trails featuring rehabilitated native wildlife. We serve over 140,000 visitors annually and provide education programs for over 40,000 students. Our mission is to ‘connect people with nature’ which we do daily through our summer camps, canoe trips, evening concerts, and community programs for all ages. Our Unity Garden provides over 10,000 pounds of fresh produce to North Fulton Community Charities Food Pantry each year.