Adirondack Life – September 2019

12 ADIRONDACK LIFE September + October 2019

NORTHERN LIGHTS

A

nyone who has endured blackfly

season may think the last thing

the Adirondack Park needs is

more insects, but pollinators—essential

to our food and ecosystems—are under

threat worldwide from habitat loss, insec-

ticides and climate change, among other

reasons.

The Adirondack Pollinator Project, a

partnership of AdkAction, the Wild Cen-

ter, Paul Smith’s College and the Lake

Placid Land Conservancy, was launched

in 2016 to protect the park’s native but-

terflies, bumblebees and other regional

pollinators through education and habi-

tat creation.

This summer the project’s Mobile Polli-

nator Garden Trailer, equipped with tools

and supplies, set out to plant dozens of

community pollinator gardens at church-

es, libraries, schools and other public loca-

tions around the park.

Visit http://www.adkaction.org/project/adi

rondack-pollinator-project for more infor-

mation and to apply for the next round of

garden funding.

HUNTING

FOR

CABINS

Some of the

Adirondacks’

humblest structures

are also its most

storied. If you have

a beloved hunting

camp within the

Blue Line, we want

to hear about it.

Email a couple

of interior and

exterior photo-

graphs, plus a few

lines about what

makes it special, to

aledit@adirondack

life.com, and we’ll

consider it for an

upcoming feature

article about these

timeless icons of

Adirondack life.

FLOWER

POWER

FALL

TO-DON’T

LIST

One of the best

favors you can do for

pollinators is to skip

your end-of-season

garden chores:

Leaf litter is a haven

for overwintering

butterflies, bees and

other insects.

Dried-out plants

and flowers provide

shelter, seeds and

nesting materials for

insects and birds.

A brush pile looks like

a Park Avenue pent-

house to nesting bees

and a lumberyard to

nest-building birds. Ca

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