STAMFORD – Across the city, a few hundred homeowners are quietly building a pathway.
It’s not for people, though.
It’s for pollinators – bees, butterflies, moths, flies, beetles, birds, bats and small mammals that move pollen grains.
The grains fertilize plants so they can create seeds that will produce fruits, vegetables and new plants.
But pollinators are in trouble. Their populations are declining worldwide as they struggle against habitat loss, invasive plant species, pesticides, parasites, disease and climate change, the National Park Service reports.
Homeowners are trying to help.
Some have joined the Stamford chapter of Pollinator Pathway, a nationwide movement that began in Wilton in 2017. Members plant native trees, shrubs and plants that provide habitat and food for pollinators.
“There are 370 residential properties in Stamford that are participating,” said Melanie Hollas, co-chair of Pollinator Pathway Stamford. “It amounts to 531 acres.”
Pollinator pathways are being planted in city parks, too, which adds a potential 1,604 acres to the effort, Hollas said.
Those in the group pledge to grow plants that are native to southwestern Connecticut in their yards and gardens, or in pots on their patios, porches and balconies. Native plants provide food and habitats most suited to pollinators that inhabit the area, Hollas said.
Pollinator Pathway members don’t use chemicals to kill ticks, mosquitoes, grubs and weeds, because the chemicals also kill pollinators.
Certain pesticides contain neonicotinoids, which Pollinator Pathway and other groups worked to ban this legislative session. The new law prohibits use of neonicotinoids on lawns and golf courses starting October 2027, though they still may be used on trees and shrubs and in agriculture. Neonicotinoids have been blamed for the sharp drop in insect and bird populations in North America.
Members of Pollinator Pathway also pledge to remove invasive plant species, such as Multiflora rose, Burning bush, English ivy, Norway maple and Japanese knotweed. Invasive species are a serious threat to the environment because they grow rapidly and crowd out native plants, altering the ecological balance on land and water.
Finally, members of Pollinator Pathway “rethink” their lawns, which provide little habitat for pollinators, and in fact harm them through use of fertilizer and pesticides, and by overwatering.
Beyond that, pathway builders learn things not generally known.
“People think of planting flowers to attract bees and butterflies, but a mature tree can host more pollinators and provide more food sources than a two-acre meadow,” Hollas said. “With all the development in Stamford, a lot of mature native trees are being cut down. It’s a shame. Pollinators have a hard time without them.”
Butterflies, for example, often spend most of their lives on trees – laying eggs that hatch into caterpillars, which feed on leaves before forming a chrysalis from which an adult butterfly emerges.
Hollas said she read about a study in which researchers set out to learn how many caterpillars a tiny bird, the chickadee, would have to bring to a nest of chicks over two weeks.
“It was 6,000 to 9,000 caterpillars,” Hollas said. “That’s why pollinator plants, particularly mature trees, are so important.”
Pollinator Pathway Stamford’s newsletter for July, August and September reported on the bright green Snowberry Clearwing moth, which looks like a bee, flies during the day even though moths are known for flying at night, and has proven to be a more efficient pollinator than some butterflies. The newsletter cited a 2023 study by the United Kingdom’s University of Sussex that found that moths are more efficient pollinators than bees.
There’s a lot to learn for people who want to protect pollinators and help them do their work.
People tend to think, for example, that spraying organic pesticides and insecticides is OK, Hollas said.
“They may be safe for people, but they’re not safe for pollinators,” she said. “They may contain oil which, if it gets on bees or butterflies, will kill them.”
There are all kinds of alternatives for killing pests, including a “mosquito dunk,” which is safe for people, pets and pollinators.
The dunk is a small, donut-shaped tablet containing a bacteria that kills mosquito larvae. Dropped in water, it slowly dissolves, Hollas said.
“You get a bucket and fill it one-quarter of the way with water, and you put in grass clippings or hay or leaves. I cut the donuts in quarters and use one quarter at a time. It lasts 30 days. I put a stick in the bucket so if a bee gets in, it can crawl out on the stick,” she said. “Female mosquitoes lay eggs in the bucket and when the larvae crawl out, they die. I have a quarter-acre property and I used to get eaten alive when I was in the yard. Now I have five buckets out there and I can go back there and get maybe one mosquito bite.”
Members of Pollinator Pathway provide for insects and birds year-round by planting for spring, summer and fall, Hollas said.
“They need a continuous food source. For early spring we recommend red Columbine. Hummingbirds are really attracted to it. Another good spring bloomer is Virginia bluebells. For early June, beard tongue is good. Black-eyed Susan and mountain mint are summer bloomers, and in the fall it’s goldenrods and asters. New England aster and blue wood aster. Butterflies will seek goldenrod … and grasses are important for moths and butterflies.”
Much is at stake.
Some plants rely on wind or water to move pollen. Other plants pollinate themselves. But many plants need the birds and insects and mammals that visit them for food, shelter and nest-building material.
Some pollinators, like bees, collect pollen on purpose. Others, like butterflies and birds, move pollen by accident – as they drink nectar or land on flowers, pollen grains stick to their bodies and are carried to the next plant, where they may come into contact with the reproductive parts of a flower.
The pollen grains, produced by the male part of a flower called the anther, may be transferred to the female part of the flower, called the stigma. The pollen grain grows a tube down to the ovary, fertilizing the plant.
Three-fourths of the world’s flowering plants and about 35 percent of the world’s food crops depend on insects, birds and animals to reproduce. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, they pollinate crops that include apples, bananas, blueberries, strawberries, melons, peaches, potatoes, vanilla, almonds, coffee and chocolate.
Pollinators Pathways have been established in more than 300 towns in 11 states, according to the organization’s website.
The goal is to plant continuous corridors within towns, and from town to town. Most bees have a range of just under a half-mile, so the aim is to connect properties that are not farther apart than that.
“If you can’t plant on your property because you rent, put a small tree in a pot on your deck, or volunteer with us, or educate your neighbors,” Hollas said.
For more information, visit https://www.pollinator-pathway.org/stamford