Kim BrattainFounder/ CEO, Kim Brattain Media · Award-winning Corporate and Documentary Film Producer

Catawba Lands Conservancy - Stanley Creek Right of Way | Non-profit Brand video

6 Feb 2023 · 2 min

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1:52

In this brand video, representatives from the Catawba Lands Conservancy explain how a generous grant from Duke Energy is being used to transform a utility distribution right‑of‑way along Stanley Creek from a low‑diversity, monoculture of uninteresting grasses into a thriving native‑grass habitat. By allowing the existing native seed bank to mature and produce seed, the project reestablishes food, shelter, and winter habitat for wildlife and, critically, for insects—highlighting the importance of the roughly 500 native bee species in the Carolinas whose populations are declining. The Conservancy notes that this restoration reduces the need for frequent mowing and herbicide applications, offering operational savings and a model for rethinking how rights‑of‑way corridors are managed across the region.

So we are adjacent to an energy right-of-way. This is a distribution line for electricity, and thanks to a very generous grant from Duke Energy, we are trying to transform this area from generally just a monoculture of very uninteresting plants and grasses to a habitat that really favors native grasses.
What we've done is we have not only woken up the native seed bank by letting the plants grow to maturity, produce their seed. This is critically important. It provides food and habitat and shelter for animals during the winter. So an area like this is very important for wildlife, but it's critically important to insects. And a lot of people think, well, insects, why are they important? We have close to 500 native bees to the Carolinas. A lot of these bees, their populations are going way down.
It's a win for The Conservancy because it gives us a real opportunity to change this habitat from what it was. We can reduce the amount of time that they need to spend here mowing. We can reduce the amount of herbicide that they need to spray here. We have a bigger vision. This is a really a starting point for trying to change the way we think about these rights-of-way.