Survey. to identify tands of high· quality native vegetation were initiated by the Minne ota Department ofTransportacion on highway and raitroad rights-of-way in 198. They were based on two earlier right-of-way urvey (in 197 and 19 0) that had identified 25 corridors supporting high-ro r latively good-quality native prairie vegetation in Minne Ota. The recent survey indicate that 30 10 50 percent of the omidors identified in 1978 and 1980 have been lo I because of railway abandonment, reconveyance of land to adjac 111 landowners, and h. ighway reconstruction and maintenance activities. Thi finding is consistent with the overall dramatic decline of tallgra s prairie on rights· of-way throughou1 its range in Minne ota and the rest of the upper Midwest. fn order 10 prevent further degradation of these valuable road idc prairie communities, Minnesota's Department· of Natural Resource and Tran portation initiated an innovative and cooperative roadside prnirie pre ervation and management program. The program i based on a pres· rvation and management strategy rhat had been i11 use on Minne· uta Trunk Highway? 6 (TH 56) since 1983, where high-quality prairie vegetation wa identified by early· urvey work. ince that tim, the TH 56 right-of-way has been maintained using pre cribed burning as the primary management tool, while ar the same time mowing and herbicide use have been minimized. Management of H 56 to enhance the right-of-way prairie there has been so strc sful 1ha1 this corridor was de ignated a. Minnesota's first wildflower route on August 19,~ 989.

Rights-of-way have been recognized historically as refuges for native vegetation communities (J). This is particularly true in the tallgrass prairie regions along highway and railroad rightsof-way constructed in the late 1800s and early 1900·. Before European ettlement, the dominant vegetation comrnunity of nearly the entire upper Midwe t was tallgras prairie. However, ince that time, large expanses o'f native vegetation (including prairie) have become increasingly le. s common. Nearly one-third o'f Minnesota was once native prairie (Figure 1). ow less than l percent of it i. left (2). Today, much of the native prairie llrnt remains i found in area that wer unsu. itable for agriculture, uch as cemeteries teep bluff and along right-of-way.