306 Can This Wildflower Route Be Saved? - webapps8

ights in the rights of way. The lawwas written to exempt roadauthorities."Over the years, railroad andhighway maintenance practices ledto optimum conditions for thenative orchids, according toJacobson. "You have the wet soils,and you also have the railroadkeeping the trees and brush backby prescribed burning," he says."That's kept those areas open forthe orchids."As part of the construction project,MnDOT crews took care tosegregate the topsoil and put itback where it came from. "WeOrchids (right) are moved to a temporarynursery area as the roadside Sis graded. MnDOT is temporarilyrolling back sod and topsoilJ(below), and then moving them Iback into place when work is done £to try to keep existing seeds andplants in place. £pulled it back and replaced itquickly, so we wouldn't composteverything," Jacobson explains.The crew also reseeded withnative plants. "I think much ofwhat will be there in 20 years willbe what comes back from the seedbank that's present in the soil."According to former MnDOTcommissioner Leonard W. Levine,improvements for Highway 11 hadbeen considered for more than 20years. With the expansion ofMarvin Windows in Warroad and