By Renée Scott and Brucie Moulton
Advocate for Native Pollinators
The Massachusetts Pollinator Network launched in 2021 to provide statewide support for native pollinators and everyone working on their behalf. As a network, we seek to educate the public, connect people and groups, provide a growing range of resources, and support legislation to protect and increase pollinator habitat and reduce pesticide use.
Why pollinators?
While most people are familiar with the climate crisis, many do not know about the equally calamitous biodiversity crisis. Human impacts, including habitat loss, pesticide use, pollution (including light), the introduction of invasive species, and climate change, are causing flora and fauna species’ declines and, in many cases, extinctions. Pollinators and other insects are the foundation of the ecosystems that support life on Earth and suffer from the biodiversity crisis. We cannot afford to lose them.
“If all mankind were to disappear, the world would regenerate back to the rich state of equilibrium that existed ten thousand years ago. If insects were to vanish, the environment would collapse into chaos”. E.O. Wilson
Are pollinators and plants interchangeable?
They are not. Over millennia, each pollinator evolved with specific plants, creating intricate, mutually beneficial relationships. The insects pollinate the plant, and the plants provide food and shelter to the insects. While some of these relationships are more general, where a plant or insect can benefit or benefit from many other species, many relationships are exclusively between one plant and one insect. When species that did not evolve in a particular ecosystem are brought in intentionally or accidentally, they often have few to no predators that would naturally keep them in check. They can easily take over an area, pushing out the native species that did evolve there and are not part of the food web. As a result, insects are left without food and shelter and plants lose their pollinators. This is why we talk about the importance of native species. All insects and plants are native to somewhere. The key is to keep the original ecological bonds together so they can function as part of the food web and survive.
The Massachusetts Pollinator Network
Created as part of NOFA/Mass, the Massachusetts Pollinator Network (MAPN) grew out of a regional group whose founder, Peggy Macleod, saw the urgent need for an organization that could reach every corner of the state to build a widespread understanding of the immense diversity and importance of native pollinators. NOFA/Mass Executive Director Jocelyn Langer and Policy Director Martin Dagoberto Driggs collaborated with Peggy. They formed an advisory committee to clarify the new group’s mission and framework and to hire a coordinator.
MAPN was fortunate to have as its first coordinator bumblebee scientist, Rosemary Malfi, who was shifting from academic to policy work. Last year, Rosemary joined the International Xerces Society’s pesticide policy group. The new coordinator, Renée Scott, brought a strong native plant perspective. She and Tori Antonino co-led the successful Somerville, MA, campaign to pass a Native Planting Ordinance, a first-in-the-nation accomplishment. Benefitting from the complementary perspectives of its first two coordinators and the hard work of its steering and advisory committees, MAPN was off to a strong start.
Mission
Our mission is to support pollinators by protecting and creating habitat, reducing pesticide use, and controlling invasive species. We do so by providing education and support to as many people as possible because everyone can do something more to support pollinators. We have resources for people and organizations with different circumstances. Perhaps you have a small garden full of non-native plants or an established native plant garden, or you are a municipal employee trying to increase the ecological health of the land you manage or a farmer wishing to attract beneficial insects to help with pollination and pest management. We can help!
Stay tuned for our new website, which will be a resource hub for information on what to plant, where to find them, and more.
“Knowing that we must preserve ecosystems with as many of their interacting species as possible defines our challenge in no uncertain terms.” Doug Tallamy
Do you want to get started with creating and supporting pollinator habitats?
We offer common sense steps for how to garden ecologically.
Choose the right plants:
Prioritize planting your landscape with native plants, including trees and shrubs
Ask your local nursery for seeds and plants that are native (preferably to New England), straight species (not cultivars), and pesticide-free
Plant a variety of species with different heights, flower shapes, colors and bloom times.
Diversify your lawn by adding low-growing, flowering plants, especially clover, violets, self-heal (Prunella), wild strawberries, and native grasses
Try to have at least 70% of your plants be native species
Care for your garden
Minimize soil disruption (digging, tilling) to protect soil health
Avoid all pesticides (herbicides, insecticides & fungicides) and granulated fertilizers
Identify and remove invasive plants
To protect overwintering insects, use leaves as mulch and leave plant stalks in place. Skip fall cleanup and wait until mid-spring to cut stems to about 12” (or better yet, never remove them!)
Don’t rake/blow/shred leaves; if they are in a path, gently move them to a garden bed
Where it is safe to do so, leave dead tree trunks standing and stash fallen branches in an inconspicuous place; they are vital insect homes
Mow every 2-3 weeks; allow grass to get 3-4” tall
Other ways to support wildlife
Visit masspollinatornetwork.org for more information.