SEAWALL POLLINATOR PATCH: Inspired by the David Suzuki project, a gang of locals is planting rest stops for bees and butterflies around qathet.
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• July 2021 • qathetliving.ca
Making ways for butterflies & bees BY CLAUDIA BIC
I
n 2017, the David Suzuki Foundation launched The Butterflyway Project, a Canada wide citizen-led movement aiming to grow new habitats for pollinators. For the first time, the qathet region has joined this sustainability movement with 10 volunteer Butterfly Rangers to create habitats for natives bees and other insects. This diverse group of rangers are using their skills in a wide variety of local pollinator actions. Education is one important part of the project towards sustainable living with pollinators. Articles were written about the importance of insects and the danger of pesticides in Climate Action Powell River’s first newsletter, which launched in March (climateactionpowellriver.wordpress.com), in the Texada Express and in the May issue of Powell River Living. Getting hands on and turning boring lawns, which are a desert for pollinators, into viable living habitats is the biggest goal of the rangers. Pollinator patches are popping up across the region. On Texada Island, a pollinator project was introduced at the Texada Elementary School with the generous participation of The Flower and the Bee, who offered a high quality blend of native wildflower seeds to the students. Another ranger approached her “Lang Bay Friends’’ with the idea of diversifying their community garden, making it more amenable to pollinators. The volunteer crew around John Jacobs will add more varieties of native
How to make ways 1. Fill your yard with flowers that blossom over the seasons. Big patches of each, for more efficient foraging. 2. Plant native plants. Some native bees can only feed on pollen from specific groups of native plants. Planted in the right spot, they’ll thrive with no extra watering, fertilizers or chemicals. 3. Go organic!! Bees are insects, so using insecticides on your lawn and garden will kill them. 4. Just add water. All pollinators need fresh water to drink! Questions? Get in touch with local Rangers through Laural at lauralsschoolgardens @gmail.com or Claudia at claudiabn80@gmail.com. plants as food sources for pollinators and habitats to lay their eggs. After reaching out to the City of Powell River, two other rangers have been kindly allowed to start a pollinator patch in Cranberry. Springtime Nursery was incredibly generous and donated the soil and the wildflower seeds. The Cranberry liquor store owner offered to water it and a lot of neighbours already gifted more seeds and perennials. More patches are coming, we are happy to have already received another soil donation for the next one, this time from T&R. Stay tuned!
