POLLINATOR PLANTS and Public Policy

IF YOU’RE A HUNGRY TRAVELER in the area of Raleigh, North Carolina, you’re in luck; there are some great new places to nourish you on your journey through town. But these aren’t new restaurants for people driving through the state’s capital: They’re new plantings of native trees, shrubs, grasses, flowers, and groundcovers created for the benefit of bees, butterflies, birds, and other pollinators.

In October 2018, the Wake County Board of Commissioners announced a significant step toward celebrating their region’s natural heritage and restoring the ecological balance lost through commercial development by approving a resolution to increase the use of native plants in Wake County. The Native Plant Initiative, sponsored by Commissioner Sig Hutchinson, requires contractors to use a minimum of 70 percent native plants in landscape installations on county government projects in the 12 municipalities and unincorporated areas of Wake County, according to a county spokesperson. The county will also place signs in the installations to educate the public about the uses