June 17, 2020
Wappapello Lake’s pollinator project blossoms
WAPPAPELLO — Land management practices have changed significantly over the years, with varying degrees of success, and some have resulted in unintended consequences. Today, open lands and prairies are diminishing, and with them, so are the number of pollinators, such as bees and butterflies, necessary for a complete ecosystem...
WAPPAPELLO — Land management practices have changed significantly over the years, with varying degrees of success, and some have resulted in unintended consequences.
Today, open lands and prairies are diminishing, and with them, so are the number of pollinators, such as bees and butterflies, necessary for a complete ecosystem.
“If there weren’t pollinators, we wouldn’t be eating,” said Wappapello Lake Park Ranger Jennifer Morse as she stood along a walking trail at the lake’s new greenhouse and pollinator project.
“As we lose these native plants and pollinators, you really can see a decline in the diversity of our ecosystem,” Morse said. “It will trickle down to us, and if we don’t have bees, we’re not going to be able to have a sustainable agriculture.
“The more we can do to help establish those and keep those going, the better off as a whole we’re going to be.”
Soybeans, corn and other agriculture crops … “the things we consume, all have to be pollinated some way or another. We need pollinators in order to do that,” added Natural Resource Specialist Eric Lemons.
“There have been all types of things affecting pollinators over the years, whether it be pesticides or natural diseases,” Lemons said. “Some is man made, some is natural and some is invasive, and pollinators have really been on the decline the last several years.”
Wappapello’s pollinator project, Lemons said, began with a memorandum a few years ago, signed by then President Barack Obama.
“It’s an initiative set forth by our agency,” added Lemons. “It’s a mission of our agency as a natural resources and wildlife management agency to use our lands and do the best we can to help species in decline.”
Wappapello’s pollinator project, which is located adjacent to the management office along Highway T, kicked off three years ago with a planting of native wildflowers to attract the insects.
“We started with the hillside (by the highway). We got this small package to put in wildflowers and pollinator improvement, and it just really has grown and blossomed into what you see now from that initial project,” Morse explained.
The initial project, she said, has grown to about one and a quarter acres of various plantings, featuring native vegetation vital to pollinators.
“We’re really working on bringing in bees and butterflies. Those are the most common pollinators,” Morse said.
Several species of coneflowers, butterfly milkweed, common milkweed, tickseed, Indian paintbrush, warm season grasses and more are planted on the project.
“Our goal is to have something blooming spring through fall,” Morse said.
In the near future, a small wetland will be added on the lower end, and the entire area offers a walking trail, so visitors can see up close not only the plants, but the wildlife they attract.
“As you go through the trail, we’re going to have a really nice seating area where we can have ranger talks and school groups,” Morse said.
A large greenhouse also can be found on site, where Corps of Engineers staff members grow young native plants before they are transferred to other locations.
After two years of construction fraught with weather delays, the greenhouse went operational in February.
“The greenhouse is totally dedicated to native pollinators, including native grasses, flowers and trees,” said Morse.
The “great thing” with the greenhouse, Morse said, is “we can force things through the winter so that next spring we can have a big planting.
“We’ve had a really good success rate on what we’ve planted so far this year. We’ve transplanted close to 300 plants, and we’ve seen about an 85% survival rate.”
The Corps, Morse said, is hopeful its pollinator project can inspire people to “come out and have a nice, educational experience and translate back to their own home.”
And, the public has noticed, Lemons said.
“Every day, I look out my window, and there’s people using the trail and milling around looking. People are very interested in what we’re doing,” Lemons explained.
Even in its infancy, Morse said, the project has attracted “a lot of butterflies and a lot of bees. We’re also seeing a lot of birds, and it’s a really good food plot, unintentionally, for deer.”
Once well established, Lemons said, the pollinator project will mostly take care of itself.
“Three years from now, this thing will be entirely self sustaining,” he said of the project, which he calls a “work in progress.
“It’s an investment up front, but once we have established beds, we may have to do a little bit of weeding or spraying, but it’s there.”
The pollinator project, Lemons said, boils down to fulfilling the Corps’ mission to protect and preserve natural resources.
“We want to be good stewards of the land resources and taxpayer dollars … the whole nine yards,” he said.
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