Why pollinator gardens?

Why a Pollinator Garden Project?

Although 75% of the world’s flowering plants and 35% of the world’s food crops rely on pollinators–many of them insects–pollinators face increasing challenges from multiple fronts, including habitat loss, climate change, and agricultural chemical use. Insects have suffered average annual declines in abundance of 1-2%, what some scientists are terming an “insect apocalypse” (Wagner et al., 2021). To ward against farm losses as pollinators decline in populations, the State of Massachusetts announced a Growing Wild Massachusetts initiative to assist residents in planting more pollinator habitats in their yards. In short, pollinator declines are occurring on a global level, but there is local work to be done.

During the spring semester of 2023, WSU undergraduates enrolled in Environmental Stewardship (GE299) are preparing and planting a pollinator garden at the Patch Reservoir field house owned by Greater Worcester Land Trust and leased by Worcester State University.  They will also be preparing a pollinator bed for the Town of Oxford's  Pollinator Campaign, run by the Conservation Commission.  

In preparation for this work, students spend time in the classroom learning the social dimensions of environmental stewardship and civic ecology practices. On February 7th, for example, students gathered in small  groups in class to discuss the concept of “community” and how they might think about community in relationship to environmental stewardship. Students are also learning about the plants we will be sowing and the pollinators we hope to attract to the garden.

Works Cited

Civic Ecology Lab. (n.d.). Civic Ecology Lab. Retrieved February 7, 2023, from https://www.civicecology.org

Department of Conservation & Recreation. (2022, June 1). State Environmental Officials Plant Seeds to Kick-Off Second Year of Pollinator Habitat Campaign in the Commonwealth. Mass.Gov. https://www.mass.gov/news/state-environmental-officials-plant-seeds-to-kick-off-second-year-of-pollinator-habitat-campaign-in-the-commonwealth

Svendsen, E., & Campbell, L. (2008). Urban Ecological Stewardship: Understanding the Structure, Function and Network of Community-based Urban Land Management. Cities and the Environment (CATE), 1(1). https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/cate/vol1/iss1/4

 Wagner, D. L., Grames, E. M., Forister, M. L., Berenbaum, M. R., & Stopak, D. (2021). Insect decline in the Anthropocene: Death by a thousand cuts. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(2), e2023989118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2023989118