Pollinator Gardens Along the Byway

Birds, Bees, Butterflies

By Carol O'Beirne

They add color and joy to our lives, but more than that, they are an indispensable part of the food chain.

These small, hardworking, creatures give us the food we eat by pollinating home gardens as well as more than 100 farm crops that sustain 90% of the human population. Our economy, too, is therefore linked to their survival.

But the winged creatures that do so much for us are under stress from:

• Chemicals: We have added to our environment hundreds of toxins that harm pollinator nervous systems and are suspected to contribute to Colony Collapse Disorder that has devasted the honeybee population in recent years.

• Habitat loss: Replacing open fields where wildflowers grow with buildings, roads, manicured lawns and unnatural gardens has removed living space and food sources for pollinators.

The completed pollinator garden at the entrance to the village of Margaretville

To lend pollinators a hand, the Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway has hung out the welcome sign! Here’s how you can help:

• Plant for the pollinators. Keep your yard and garden organic. Shop carefully for seeds—ask the vendor I they contain neonicotinoids, an herbicide used to treat many mass-produced vegetable and flower seeds. It is deadly to bees and butterflies.

• Don’t Mow! Allow weeds and wildflowers to grow until they finish flowering to provide much-needed nectar for pollinators. Dandelions, for example, are one of the season’s earliest food sources for bees. Milkweeds are an important food source and nursery for the threatened Monarch butterfly.

• Avoid insecticides, herbicides, and chemical fertilizers. Most herbicides contain glyphosate, which is harmful to butterflies, bees, and other pollinators. It is also indicated as a carcinogen for humans. The Woodstock Pollinator Pathway website has helpful information about the use of insecticides and their impact on Pollinators. Visit woodstocknypollinatorpathway.org

Take Action:

Become a citizen scientist. Learn about invasive plants and insects that are altering our ecosystem. You might want to sign on as a spotter with the Catskill Regional Invasive Species Partnership. Be aware of public initiatives. Learn what the NYSDEC (New York State Department of Environment Conservation is currently changing its ways to provide pollinators with revised mowing protocols on city lands in the NYC Watershed avoiding cutting weeds and wildflowers before they flower, and preserve milkweed, which Monarchs particularly rely on for food and habitat.

Visit ScenicCatskills.com for more information about pollinator gardens along the CMSB.

Building a pollinator garden in Margaretville

Building a pollinator garden in Margaretville

Barbara Hagstrom at the pollinator garden at the entrance to Pine Hill