Creating Habitat for Native Pollinators and Pollinator Habitat Improvement Project Volunteer Work Day

Friday, October 24: Creating Habitat for Native Pollinators from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. followed by Pollinator Habitat Improvement Project Volunteer Work Day from 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Learn how you can make your property more appealing and beneficial to native pollinators like bees, flies, beetles, hummingbirds, bats and moths.  Pollinators are vital to our food system, and with research showing significant declines in native species, we can all help native pollinators by considering their habitat needs as we landscape our properties.  Even small areas can provide important food sources and nesting sites for pollinators like native bees, butterflies, moths and other insects, as well as birds and bats.  Experts Wendy Scribner, Natural Resources Field Specialist with UNH Cooperative Extension and Debra Marnich, Stewardship Director of Chocorua Lake Conservancy, will explore the importance of native pollinators, share first-hand research experience and examples of how to create habitat for native pollinators.  Participants will be able to see an example of a pollinator garden, bee hotel and pollinator field.  Following the program, participants are welcome to volunteer to assist with the Pollinator Habitat Improvement Project at GMCG.  This summer GMCG began the three-year project to create a pollinator field to enhance wildlife habitat for pollinators.  This 6,650 ft² area will be temporarily covered with cardboard in three stages to prepare the planting area and kill the existing plants.  At the fall volunteer workday, we will rake out the dead plant materials and seed a wildflower meadow with a diverse mix of plants that will bloom throughout the season.  The program and work day will take place at Green Mountain Conservation Group’s Blue Heron House, located at 236 Huntress Bridge Road in Effingham.