[Pollinator] The Return of the Natives - Pollinator Habitat for Farms and Gardens

[Ladadams at aol.com]

Thanks to Gary Nabhan for this great report on his recent very  successful 
pollinator habitat workshop held in Patagonia,  Arizona. 
 
 
The Return of the  Natives: Designing and Planting Hedgerows for Pollinator 
Habitat to  Bring Wild Diversity Back to Farms and  Gardens 
Patagonia, AZ, March 20, 2012 - Workshop  Highlights 
Native pollinators, it seems, were once forgotten as playing an  essential 
role in providing ecological services for food security, but no  longer.  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.  
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 University  of Arizona, Susan Wethington of the  
Hummingbird Monitoring Network, as well as permaculturist Kate Tirion and  
ecologist Ron Pulliam of Patagonia, Arizona.  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, University of 
Arizona, 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 Southern Arizona became engaged with hands-on 
efforts to  bring a diversity OF pollinators back to borderlands farms, 
gardens and  ranches. 
Following introductions, the workshop in rural Santa Cruz County was 
launched with lectures by special  guest presenters.  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.  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.  She 
emphasized the importance of  understanding how wildlife, livestock, and other 
biota can act as vectors or as  filters for pathogens on farms.  She  concluded 
that wild species can provide more benefits than risks to farms if  
ecologically managed.  
Sam Earnshaw of CAFF then shared insights gained from his extensive  
experience implementing hedgerows, green buffers and other wild habitats on  farms 
in California.  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.  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. 
The hands-on portion of the workshop took the form of installing  native 
plants as hedgerows at two different sites.  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.  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.  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. 
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.  Gary Nabhan led the design and 
implementation of plantings dominated by  native vines, sub-shrubs and wild 
flowers (mostly crop relatives) alongside a  mesquite retaque fence. This site 
was  located on a clay-dominated ridge between the Native Seeds/SEARCH  and 
the Almunya de los Zoplilotes  orchard, while  Amanda Webb, a  graduate 
student from the University of Arizona, led the design and transplanting of  
woody perennials at the Rogers-Wethington orchard on a floodplain.  These 
examples provided participants  with the opportunity to see two different 
applications of the forms and  functions of hedgerows under local conditions.  
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.  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  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. 
There were other scientists and farmers present who gave summaries  of the 
related work they do with pollinators.  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.  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.    The point was made to  participants that the renewed 
planting of hedgerows on farms is an important  step in this larger kind of 
effort. 
Feedback from workshop participants has been overwhelmingly  positive.  
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 Southern  
Arizona. 
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