What is a Pollinator Corridor?
Pollinator Corridors in Franklin County and the FRCOG Pollinator Action Plan
A field or river edge that provides food and cover for pollinators, and that is connected to other nearby areas that do the same, is part of what is called a pollinator corridor. Pollinator corridors keep individual pollinator populations from becoming isolated. This way pollinators can migrate as needed, which will improve the genetic diversity of each population. Without genetic diversity, insects (and all creatures) are less likely to be able to fight off diseases or adapt to climate changes.
River edges and woods in Franklin County provide habitat to support pollinators and other wildlife. Map Courtesy of the FRCOG.
Photos
Top left - Wooded banks along Hinsdale Brook provide healthy habitat as part of one of Greenfield's pollinator corridors.
This column - Flowers in an un-mown field provide pollen and nectar for insects in May.
Photos by Mary Westervelt
In 2021, the Franklin Regional Council of Governments (FRCOG) released a Regional Pollinator Action Plan. In addition to that plan, the FRCOG prepared detailed action plans for each of the participating communities in Franklin County. The Greenfield Pollinator Action Plan highlights two existing pollinator corridors:
The Green River Corridor and surrounding riparian habitat, and
Rocky Mountain Park/Temple Woods, which links to the Connecticut River.
Additionally, the major utility corridor through north Greenfield and the roadsides mown by DPW could be managed to provide habitat for wildlife, including pollinators. Parks and public gardens in downtown Greenfield are being developed into another corridor.
But maintaining these corridors won't be enough if we don't take steps to make sure they provide appropriate habitat for pollinators and other creatures.
According to the Regional Pollinator Action Plan:
Pollinators find the best habitat in open land such as forest edges and fields where flowers and grasses thrive.
Forests themselves are also valuable to pollinators, who find nectar and pollen in early springtime flowering species ('springtime ephemerals') on the forest floor when meadow species are not yet blooming.
Trees and shrubs provide critical habitat for many species of butterflies and moths (lepidoptera) as the leaves of many native trees and shrubs provide nutrients that are required by specific lepidoptera larvae.
Forests, shrubland, grassland, and wetlands are all listed as important habitats for a number of native bumble bee species whose populations are threatened or even in critical decline.
And finally, city gardens and even our home gardens can provide what's needed to help pollinator populations thrive.
Though Franklin County contains much forested land and many open fields, these are not necessarily maintained in a pollinator-friendly way. Pesticides and herbicides kill pollinators as well as targeted pests, and a field of only one crop does not provide the diversity of plants that pollinators need. Forests, while not considered the main target of the FRCOG plan, need to be managed with pollinator health in mind.
The FRCOG's Pollinator Action Plans lay out ways to combat damaging management practices including the overuse of pesticides and herbicides. These damaging practices, along with the reduction of natural spaces, have led to a decline in pollinator insects.
Fortunately, restoration of habitat can be done, not only in forests and fields, but also in residential areas and parks. Eight communities in Franklin County are working together to re-establish the kind of habitat necessary for pollinators and other wildlife to thrive. Connecting these so they form Corridors is the goal of the Action Plan.
We already have a good start in Greenfield! This website highlights public gardens that together form 'stepping stones' in Greenfield's Pollinator Corridor. The Greenfield Tree Committee is planting native trees along streets, both to beautify neighborhoods, and to create connections between pollinator havens. Greening Greenfield is active in planting and maintaining public pollinator gardens – and in encouraging individuals to plant and maintain their property with pollinators in mind. We all have a part to play in restoring needed habitat.
Read the Greenfield Pollinator Action Plan and the Regional Pollinator Action Plan for Franklin County, both posted on the FRCOG website (frcog.org), to learn more about these efforts.
This map shows the pollinator corridors and 'stepping stones' identified in the Franklin County communities participating in the FRCOG's Pollinator Action Plan in 2021. Courtesy of the FRCOG.