Guest post by Madeleine Freundlich of The Environmental Cooperative
While the honeybee tends to be the poster child for pollination, these European bees stand in the shadow of over 3,600 native bee species that comprise a small portion of all pollinating animals in North America. Pollination is a complex relationship between all types of bees, beetles, moths, and more and most plant life. While we reap the benefits of beautiful blooms and food on the table, our pollinator friends are doing all the work behind the scenes. The ecological service pollinators provide is necessary for the reproduction of over 85% of the world’s flowering plants, including more than two-thirds of the world’s crop species. That means you can thank these creatures for most of your farm share! The United States alone grows more than one hundred crops that either need or benefit from pollinators, and the economic value of these native pollinators is estimated at $3 billion per year. While impressive, such a statistic warrants a little more context. Most native pollinators have only a handful of plant species that they have a symbiotic relationship with: the squash bee forages in the squash blossom, and, in turn, the squash pollen gets carried to another flower and pollination occurs. Since most pollinators only pollinate a handful of plant species, it requires a high amount of both pollinator and plant diversity to maintain an ecosystem.
In many spaces that lack plant diversity, for example developed areas or mega-monoculture farms, pollinator populations are severely disrupted. The iconic monarch butterfly, for example, has experienced declines of approximately 84% in populations across North America. Habitat loss, alteration, and fragmentation, as well as diseases, pesticide use, and climate change are all threats to pollinators and the ecosystems that they support.
Here at The Environmental Cooperative, we recognize this issue and strive to use our resources to create places for all types of native pollinators to thrive. Recently the Town of Poughkeepsie has joined the Pollinator Pathways Initiative. This is a novel program that lays out guidelines and resources for starting native flower gardens so that native pollinators can prosper. These gardens act as an oasis for pollinators that have to travel a long way to find food due to development or the proliferation of non-native species. By encouraging residents, schools, organizations and municipalities to establish pollinator habitats wherever possible, we can achieve a patchwork pathway for native pollinators around the United States.
The Cooperative’s garden of natives in front of our offices includes Black-Eyed Susans, Goldenrod, Milkweed, and many others. These plots function in two ways: to facilitate the feeding and pollination symbiosis between pollinators and plants, and to look beautiful! While our focus is on native life, these plots also serve an aesthetic purpose that can be applied to your backyard or apartment window. We’ve also partnered with the PFP and the Ecological Preserve to create “Founder’s Plots”. These plots are planted with local native wildflowers, propagated from local seeds provided by the “Ecotype Project” through CT NOFA. The Founders Plots will provide a source of seed in coming years to help provide plants for community members that would like to start their own pollinator gardens.
What you can do:
Learn about our native plants and animals! Take a look around the PFP or native plant gardens and see if any plants are catching your eye. The Lady Bird Johnson Wildlife Center has a wonderful and comprehensive database that can help you find what you’re looking for - as well as give you helpful tips for planting and maintenance. Similarly, Native Beeology is a great resource for learning about native bees! It is also run by Poughkeepsie Local, Tim Stanley, Director at Sharpe Reservation.
Landscape for natives. If you have any sort of area that you currently maintain grass on, think about changing it over to a native garden. Trust us, the beauty, wildlife, and minimal maintenance certainly outweighs the merits of a lawn. Check out your local native nursery or find a friend willing to share a plant or two. Native plants are adapted to living in our specific region so they usually require little additional watering or pruning and spread easily.
Make a bee a home. Whilst honey bees conjure up large group hives, most native bees are solitary. Creating nooks in your yard, leaving dried grasses over the winter, or putting in some logs as landscaping can give your bees a better chance at putting up permanent residence. Check out this sheet about native bee housing that the Environmental Coop put together for more information and lots of inspiration! Here is an additional blog about the importance of native bees.
The Environmental Cooperative at the Vassar Barns is an outreach and education initiative through Vassar College, located on the Vassar Farm and Ecological Preserve. We work to inspire engagement, support current efforts and develop new opportunities for conservation education, outreach, and research.