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<DIV><EM>Thanks to Gary Nabhan for this great report on his recent very
successful pollinator habitat workshop held in Patagonia,
Arizona. </EM></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 10pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><FONT size=3><FONT
face=Calibri><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><U>The Return of the
Natives:</U></I><U> Designing and Planting Hedgerows for Pollinator Habitat to
Bring Wild Diversity Back to Farms and
Gardens<o:p></o:p></U></FONT></FONT></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 10pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><FONT size=3><FONT face=Calibri><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on"><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><U>Patagonia</U></B></st1:City><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><U>, <st1:State
w:st="on">AZ</st1:State></U></B></st1:place><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><U>, March 20, 2012 - Workshop
Highlights</U></B></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 10pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face=Calibri> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: 36pt; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 10pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face=Calibri>Native pollinators, it seems, were once forgotten as playing an
essential role in providing ecological services for food security, but no
longer.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>We have witnessed a surge
in grassroots interest in returning pollinators to their proper place in
sustainable agriculture, as witnessed by the enthusiastic participation recently
seen at a workshop regarding on-farm pollinator habitat restoration in the
U.S./Mexico borderlands. </FONT></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: 36pt; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 10pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face=Calibri>The workshop featured practical teachings from Sam Earnshaw of
Community Alliance of Family Farmers, who has helped plant or restore over 300
miles of pollinator-attracting hedgerows in Western states. Other speakers
included Jo Ann Baumgartner of Wild Farm Alliance, Amanda Webb, Gary Nabhan and
Laura Lopez Hoffman of the <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType>
of <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Arizona</st1:PlaceName>, Susan Wethington of the
Hummingbird Monitoring Network, as well as permaculturist Kate Tirion and
ecologist Ron Pulliam of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Patagonia</st1:City>, <st1:State
w:st="on">Arizona</st1:State></st1:place>.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Co- sponsors included Wild Farm Alliance, Borderlands Habitat Restoration
Initiative, Hummingbird Monitoring Network, the Sabores Sin Fronteras Foodways
Alliance, and the Kellogg Program on Food and Water Security for the Southwest
Borderlands, <st1:PlaceType w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">University</st1:place> of <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Arizona</st1:PlaceName></st1:PlaceType>, all in support of the larger
efforts of the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign or “Pollinator
Partnership.” . Over thirty-four residents of three counties in <st1:place
w:st="on">Southern Arizona</st1:place> became engaged with hands-on efforts to
bring a diversity OF pollinators back to borderlands farms, gardens and
ranches.</FONT></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: 36pt; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 10pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face=Calibri>Following introductions, the workshop in rural <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Santa Cruz</st1:PlaceName> <st1:place
w:st="on">County</st1:place></st1:place> was launched with lectures by special
guest presenters.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Jo Ann
Baumgartner began by talking about efforts by the Wild Farm Alliance to promote
forms of agriculture that protect and restore wild biodiversity. She also
responded to food safety concerns that wild animals on farms are risk to
production operations.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>She
highlighted habitat restoration strategies that minimize the potential for
contaminating crops with diseases that are then transferrable to consumers in
ways that might otherwise compromise human health.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>She emphasized the importance of
understanding how wildlife, livestock, and other biota can act as vectors or as
filters for pathogens on farms.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>She
concluded that wild species can provide more benefits than risks to farms if
ecologically managed. </FONT></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: 36pt; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 10pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face=Calibri>Sam Earnshaw of CAFF then shared insights gained from his extensive
experience implementing hedgerows, green buffers and other wild habitats on
farms in <st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place>.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>He presented many ways that a hedgerow
can provide needed support services to a growing operation, and suggested plants
that could be used for different applications.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The photos in his presentation helped
illustrate how hedgerows function to address site-specific issues, the different
forms hedgerows may take, and how they can support pollinators as well as other
vertebrate and invertebrate species that can act as natural pest control for
crops.</FONT></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: 36pt; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 10pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face=Calibri>The hands-on portion of the workshop took the form of installing
native plants as hedgerows at two different sites.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Gary Nabhan took this opportunity to
talk about specific features unique to each of the sites, the crops grown there,
and the desired functional outcomes for each hedgerow after it is
established.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>In addition to
discussing how the hedgerows would support native pollinators, he led a demo on
constructing and providing bee nesting structures and showed how they could be
installed on-farm, at home, or in the garden.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Jo Ann, Sam, and Gary provided continual
information to participants about the ecology of on-farm hedgerows through
guiding presentations and interactions with individual participants.</FONT></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: 36pt; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 10pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face=Calibri>The hedgerow designs at the two sites reflected site-specific goals
of each of the hedgerows, and both were comprised of a different suite of plant
species to reflect those desired outcomes.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Gary Nabhan led the design and implementation of plantings dominated by
native vines, sub-shrubs and wild flowers (mostly crop relatives) alongside a
mesquite <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">retaque</I> fence. This site was
located on a clay-dominated ridge between the Native Seeds/SEARCH<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>and the Almunya de los Zoplilotes
orchard, while<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Amanda Webb, a
graduate student from the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">University</st1:place> of <st1:place
w:st="on">Arizona</st1:place></st1:place>, led the design and transplanting of
woody perennials at the Rogers-Wethington orchard on a floodplain.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>These examples provided participants
with the opportunity to see two different applications of the forms and
functions of hedgerows under local conditions.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Plant installation at both sites
ultimately included the transplanting woody vegetation (shrubs, vine and trees)
as well as the sowing of seeds of native annual and perennial wildflower
seeds.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The spent flowering stalks
of desert sotol and century plants were integrated into fences to serve as
nesting habitat for carpenter bees at both sites. Many on-site discussions were
inspired by these hands-on experiences that give people skills in how to plant
native plants, to construct<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>nest
boxes, fences and rainwater harvesting structures, to plan irrigation regimes
and to extend the flowering season to attract and keep a variety of pollinators
on the farm.</FONT></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: 36pt; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 10pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face=Calibri>There were other scientists and farmers present who gave summaries
of the related work they do with pollinators.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>These included Susan Wethington who
talked about the mission and work of the Hummingbird Monitoring Network, Laura
Lopez-Hoffman who described her research on nectar-feeding bats, and Ron Pulliam
who talked about the on-going pollinator habitat restoration and education
efforts of the Borderlands Habitat Restoration Initiative.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>These short talks provided an expanded
view on pollinator conservation and research while emphasizing that effective
pollinator conservation cannot be isolated to one farm or species, but should be
implemented for diverse species at the landscape or regional level with a
multitude of collaborators, supporters, and projects.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The point was made to
participants that the renewed planting of hedgerows on farms is an important
step in this larger kind of effort.</FONT><A name=_GoBack></A></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: 36pt; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 10pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3
face=Calibri>Feedback from workshop participants has been overwhelmingly
positive.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Along with hearing the
lectures and participating in hands-on experiences, they left with a packet of
printed information covering a wide breadth of related topics, including
information on selecting plants to fit different sites. Printed materials
included recommendations for planning pollinator-supporting hedgerows that can
thrive in different habitats throughout <st1:place w:st="on">Southern
Arizona</st1:place>.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 10pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face=Calibri> </FONT></o:p></P></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>