Have you ever noticed plots of beautiful plant life growing on the side of state roads?

The state created those pollinator zones to spruce up your drive, but also to make a home for bees, beetles and butterflies that keep our ecosystem healthy.

We're very proud of our native wildflowers here in Kentucky.

We want to show them off.

Without these plots, we would just be looking at another field of empty grass, which really isn't benefiting anything.

Right now we have over 200 plots to our name with over 100 acres that we can account for as pollinator habitat, not just beautification, not just pretty flowers on the side of the road, but actual sustainable habitats.

We're very well aware that many pollinator species are not doing so well.

Their numbers are down.

Some of them, such as the monarch butterfly, are endangered of or soon to become endangered of being extinct.

So we want to do our part as quite.

And we have 27,000 some miles of right away that we could potentially utilize for a pollinator plot instead of having mowed grass.

And conservation also ties into our agriculture Here in Kentucky, 40% of some of our of our agriculture relies on pollinators to actually propagate and grow.

So we want to keep in mind those farmers, those local farmers as well.

We have a variety of butterflies, dragonflies and some of those that you wouldn't necessarily expect right away.

We have lost.

We have micro bees, we have beetles, those kinds of things.

Of course, the honey bee, something that a lot of farmers rely on to pollinate their plants as well.

They're important because they are a very important aspect of a healthy ecosystem.

If you don't have the pollinators, you don't have this great diversity of plant life.

And we've come to find out that more diverse ecosystems are more stable ecosystems.

If you have fewer species of plant in an area, then there is more likely for it to be hit really hard with a drought or with a blight.

So having this very rich ecosystem actually helps keep it alive and support it.

I think it speaks volumes that human beings can have what they need, which is road access, which is access to the different cities of Kentucky.

And we can live right next to wildlife as well.

And this is one of those programs where there's very little compromise to be had.

The areas already exist.

Yes, it requires funding to do, but it requires funding to mow.

It requires funding to treat grass.

So we might as well have something that is more environmentally sound.

Is beautiful to look at is a celebration of our natural fauna here in Kentucky.

It's just such a great opportunity for wildlife and it's a great opportunity for the public to get involved in how the state manages their spaces.

Interesting, the pollinator plots become self-sustaining after five years of growth and care.