Greenbook: A Local Guide to Chesapeake Living -Issue 11 | Page 46

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OPINION
Creating a
Pollinator Habitat
“MPGC IS A NATIONWIDE CALL TO ACTION FOR INDIVIDUALS,
KIDS AND FAMILIES TO PRESERVE AND CREATE GARDENS
AND LANDSCAPES THAT HELP REVIVE THE HEALTH OF BEES,
BUTTERFLIES, BIRDS, BATS AND OTHER POLLINATORS
ACROSS AMERICA”
P
ollinators are responsible for 1 in 3 bites of the food
we eat every day. Ninety percent of plants across
the world depend on pollinators to reproduce. There
would be no watermelon on the 4th of July without the
vast network of pollinators who do their job, every day.
When it comes to promoting pollination efforts, hon-
eybees tend to get the most attention. Bees and the honey
they make are a part of our daily lives. But honeybees
alone can’t do the job of pollinating all the fruits and flow-
ers. And they don’t. This job also falls on butterflies, birds,
bats, moths, and even beetles. In fact, there are over 4,000
native insects and other hardworking creatures that help
grow our food and beautify our gardens.
Several years ago, news headlines put a spotlight on
historic declines in honeybee populations, causing great
alarm. But what wasn’t talked about much was how citi-
zens could make a difference and help reverse the issue.
They can.
While researchers sought answers for why the honey-
bee population specifically was not doing as well as they
had in years past, a collaboration of conservation and
gardening groups set out to help in a very practical way:
together, these organizations established the Million Pol-
46
GREENBOOK | SUMMER 2017
linator Garden Challenge (MPGC). The MPGC hopes to
facilitate the registration of one million pollinator gar-
dens by the end of 2017, highlighting a simple fact: every
pollinator species counts and every person can help.
MPGC mobilizes America’s extensive gardening com-
munity and supports them in making more native and
non-invasive pollen and nectar producing plants avail-
able in their gardens. The Challenge increases partici-
pant’s role in understanding how their actions can help
reverse declining pollinator populations. By joining the
challenge, supporters get outdoors and make a connec-
tion between pollinators and the foods we eat.
Building better, safer habitats for pollinators can be
as simple as growing basil in a window box, maintain-
ing a multi-staged blooming garden that feeds an assort-
ment of pollinators over the course of their lifecycle, or
setting out feeding stations for pollinators whose migra-
tion paths cross our area. For example, hummingbirds
migrate through Maryland twice a year, flying North
each spring and South each autumn. By creating stations
where the birds have access to food, water and shelter,
pollination gardens help provide an environment condu-
cive to survival.