Promote Conservation, Protection and Restoration of Pollinator Habitat
With one easy step, you can make a difference!
WHY ARE POLLINATORS IMPORTANT?
Anyone pay attention to their backyards or flowerbeds in front of house will notice that butterflies, bees, and small birds are not there or very few compare to just a few years ago. They are disappearing faster than you can ever catch up, and it’s time to do something about it.
We can start with something small, doable, effective and give us an immediate results. Planting the native trees, shrubs and flowers that are friendly with pollinators on your garden, neighbors’, friends’, and community public yards.
Native plants are not only beautiful, but critical to the establishment of biodiverse natural ecosystems, are easily adaptive to local environmental conditions, require far less water, provide healthier living environments for people, help combat climate change, saving time and money on low maintenance.
Native plants are those that occur naturally in a region in which they evolved. They are the ecological basis upon which life depends, including birds and people. Without them and the insects that co-evolved with them, local wildlife can’t survive. For example, research by the entomologist Doug Tallamy has shown that native oak trees support over 500 species of caterpillars whereas ginkgos, a commonly planted landscape tree from Asia, host only 5 species of caterpillars. When it takes over 6,000 caterpillars to raise one brood of chickadees, that is a significant difference. Sources by Audubon Blog, Doug_Tallamy_wcredits.mp4
Native plants provide vital habitat for pollinators and benefit many other species of wildlife as well. The colorful array of butterflies and moths, including the iconic monarch, the swallowtails, tortoiseshells, and beautiful blues, are all dependent on very specific native species. Native plants provide nectar for pollinators including hummingbirds, native bees, butterflies, moths, and bats. They provide protective shelter for many mammals.
Pollinators are vital to production of agriculture. Approximately 30 percent of the food and fiber crops grown throughout the world depend upon pollinators for reproduction. The fruits and seeds from these crop species provide 15 to 30 percent of the foods and beverages consumed by humans. They also sustain our ecosystems and produce our natural resources by helping plants reproduce.
Can you join us in this Pollinators Conservation project and plant the native trees, shrubs, and perennial flowers that attract pollinators in your gardens?
How Can You Contribute?
Begin planting in your garden and engage your neighbours and friends to do the same.