Roadside Revival – Douglas

We talked with Douglas, a member of our Roadside Revival team, to talk about what exactly the project is, and what kinds of actions they are taking. This is what he said:

What is Roadside Revival?

~175 years ago Wisconsin was covered by communities of plants that had evolved to prosper on varied habitats following the last glacier’s retreat ~10,000 years ago. As European settlers arrived, they cleared forest, broke the sod of prairies, and planted crops to sustain their families. Roads were graded to connect small farms. Since then, roads have continued to be improved (widened and paved). Most town roads have a sixty foot right of way (30′ either side from the center of the pavement). The bare soil left after this road construction was sown with the most readily available pasture mix of European grasses. While these new plants did a fine job of quickly covering the bare ground to minimize erosion, this process nearly eliminated the former wealth of native plant diversity.

Roadside Revival seeks to return that former native diversity along well traveled highways as well as lightly used town roads. In addition to planting and nurturing this new mix of plants, we seek to demonstrate that less maintenance will be required (both mowing and invasive weed control). This is possible using proper management of the restored native blend of flowers and grasses that thrived here without human care prior to this disturbance.