A study published last year found that exposure to commonly used toxic pesticides called neonicotinoids or "neonics" can infect multiple generations of bees. The pesticides we use to keep our lawns pristine aren't just bad for us, they're deadly for pollinators. Our sod-obsessed, grow, mow and blow culture relies on three trillion gallons of water, 800 million gallons of gasoline, and 59 million pounds of pesticides per year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. food desert for bees, is among the roughly 50 million acres of lawn in the continental United States that takes up as much land as all the national parks combined.
I realized my new backyard was a crime against nature.
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A large butterfly sign advertised the Pollinator Pathway website, where I found info about how to convert your lawn into a pollinator-friendly landscape, find the best native plant resources, and effectively combat ticks without pesticides.
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I had just bought my first-ever house in Ridgefield, Connecticut, and was out for a run in the neighborhood park when a flurry of butterflies stopped me mid-stride at the top of a hill beside a six-foot-tall patch of colorful plants buzzing bees overpowered Queen B in my AirPods. I learned about the Pollinator Pathway in late summer 2021. Today, there are more than 280 pathways comprised of thousands of individual properties (the majority of which are less than two acres), covering over 5,000 acres across the United States. While the Northeast harbors the largest concentration of these official native gardens, the pathway has spread to every corner of the country, in cities like New Orleans, Atlanta, Chicago, Oklahoma City, San Antonio, Los Angeles, Bend, and Seattle. Pollinators are four times more attracted to native plants than non-native or invasive ones, according to the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation.Īnyone can register a garden on the pollinator map, which receives 70,000 online visits every month, by attesting that they've curated a predominantly native plant habitat (ideally by converting some modest portion of lawn). In late 2017, Merrill, Washer, and several other area women launched what's now known as the Pollinator Pathway, a volunteer-run network of public and private gardens providing pesticide-free native plant corridors, spaced roughly half a mile apart, for bees, hummingbirds, and butterflies-all pollinators that are responsible for one in every three bites of food we eat. People loved the idea of restoring habitats across state lines," says Washer, who saw the potential for a similar initiative across NRWA's seven towns. Merrill had just experienced an aha! moment upon discovering the citizen-powered ' Bee Highway' in Oslo, Norway-a city-wide trail of bee-friendly food and shelter stations.Įmboldened by Oslo's dedication to protecting its pollinators, Merrill and Washer teamed up on a mission to plant native dogwood trees in the neighboring towns of North Salem, New York, and Ridgefield, Connecticut. The call was from her friend Donna Merrill, who was developing a community land stewardship project at the Hudson to Housatonic Conservation Partnership, similar to the NRWA. As president of the Norwalk River Watershed Association (NRWA), Washer was overseeing habitat restoration projects, monitoring water quality, and working to eliminate pesticide use in seven watershed towns in Connecticut. On a winter day in 2016, Louise Washer received a call that would change her life. This article originally appeared on Outside
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