The Hudson Valley Pollinator Action Guide
originally published May 7, 2024
Sorry honeybees, you may be popular, but the Golden Northern Bumblebees are much more efficient pollinators, and they’re native to the Hudson Valley so they help our local plants thrive too. “Honeybees stole the spotlight from a lot of our native bees,” Ecological Projects Manager Avalon Bunge said via Zoom on Tuesday morning.
And butterfly bushes? They offer pollinators such little nutritional value, Bunge noted, “it’s like feeding butterflies Oreos.”
Despite our best intentions, The Empire State Native Pollinator Survey found that up to 60-percent of New York State native pollinator species may be at risk of extinction in New York.
To support our local ecosystem, the non-profit group Partners for Climate Action (PCA) have launched the Hudson Valley Pollinator Action Guide, an online resource of 155 Hudson Valley native plants, 100s of targeted pollinator species, a directory of native nurseries, recommended site locations, and methods to manage various landscapes – from urban settings to changing mowed lawns, hayfields and conventional, monoculture agricultural sites into seeded meadows, gardens and woody hedgerows.
The guide also details case studies of these practices in action with documentation of how sites are prepped, where materials were sourced, the project timeline, budgets, and lessons learned.
“It’s a big, hopeful experiment” to bring back our native pollinators, Bunge added.
In addition to custom native seed mixes based on site needs, the PCA will be offering local seed propagation in partnership with the Hudson Valley Seed Company later this summer.
For more information, and to check out the guide, visit: https://pollinatehv.org
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