We don’t see many summer road trips in our future this summer, so we’re going to leave the highway adventures to the butterflies this year. These butterflies get to take an expressway that cuts straight through the heart of Uptown, never has traffic jams, and has plenty of rest stops to grab a snack and spread a little pollen. They’re traveling on the Butterfly Highway!

The NC Wildlife Federation program began in Charlotte in 2015 with a handful of gardens serving as “pollinator pit stops” for monarch butterflies, bees, birds and other pollen and nectar dependent wildlife. The pit stops are home to milkweed and other flowering plants that these critters need for food and shelter to help reproduce. Over the past 20 years, the natural habitat of the monarch butterfly has greatly decreased, reducing the population of the butterflies by nearly 90%.

The Butterfly Highway program was created as a way to cultivate and protect a dedicated network of pollinator pit stops to help our winged friends safely travel and increase their numbers. As of September 2018, there are 30,000 acres of registered habitats on the Butterfly Highway in North Carolina.

This pit stop on the highway can be found behind the Old City Hall on E 4th Street, directly across the street from Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center. Learn more about the Butterfly Highway here.

This Queen City exploration was powered by OrthoCarolina.