Seal Rock interpretive sign features pollinators

This Friday, July 19, at 11 a.m., several state, county and city representatives will gather with volunteers from the Highway 101 Pollinator Project in Seal Rock (at Highway 101 and Northwest Coast Road) for the dedication of a new interpretive sign about coastal pollinators and native plants.

Planting native plants for native pollinators along Highway 101 is a cooperative project between Lincoln County and the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT), which has designated 19 sites for native plants that support native pollinators.

The 19 sites are located along 25 miles of Highway 101, extending from the Yaquina Bay Bridge in Newport to the Lane County line. Planting is done by volunteers.

This 25-mile section of highway has been maintained without herbicides for the past 17 years with the help of volunteers who manually removing invasive weeds. The Highway 101 Pollinator Project was conceived by Concerned Citizens for Clean Air (CCCA), a local nonprofit. In 2007, CCCA requested that ODOT refrain from spraying herbicide on the highway shoulders. After the herbicide applications stopped, volunteers began to notice the return of some native plants and flowers.

They proposed, with support from Lincoln County Commissioners and the cities of Yachats, Newport and Waldport, that ODOT make the 25 miles of highway in south Lincoln County the Highway 101 Pollinator Corridor.

Native plants used for this project include riverbank lupine, red-flowering currant, evergreen huckleberry, yarrow, and Douglas aster. Pollinators that are attracted to these plants can include hummingbirds, bumble bees, sweat bees, flower flies and butterflies.