Darien Launches Pollinator Pathway

DARIEN, CT — In an effort to help protect the local environment from the effects of pesticides and climate change, various Darien groups are banding together to launch the Darien Pollinator Pathway.

The initiative is designed to string together adjacent public and private properties in town in which the owners will agree to go pesticide-free and grow native plants. The initiative includes The Darien Nature Center, the Garden Club of Darien, the Gardener’s Center and Florist and the Darien Library.

The project is only a few months old but is already making good progress, the initiative's co-Chair Juliet Cain, who is with the Garden Club of Darien, told Patch this week. Members of the pathway project will be fundraising for the effort, and there will be no cost to the town.

A wine-and-cheese fundraising launch party is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Wednesday, January 23, at the Gardener's Center & Florist in Darien.

"Pollinators are critical contributors to our food supply - it is estimated that more than 30 percent of our food grows as a result of the work of pollinators - but they are dying at an alarming rate," Cain told Patch.

"Projects like the Pathway that seek to provide pesticide-free native plant habitat and nutrition to pollinators are crucial if we are to reverse this trend," she said, adding that pesticides are one of the major reasons the pollinator population is dying.

The initiative is selling Pollinator Pathway yard signs "for those who agree to include one or more native plants in their landscaping and go pesticide-free."

Similar pathway efforts are underway in Norwalk, Stamford and New Canaan, and those link to ones in Weston, Wilton and Ridgefield, according to the Darien group, which hopes to see more Fairfield County communities join the movement.

"The Pathway will provide a pesticide-free and native plant habitat on both public and private properties," the Darien group stated. "This means that pollinators will have the nutrition they need to do their work of moving pollen from one plant to another to enable reproduction and the growth of new plants. More than 90 percent of crop types need bees for pollination. In fact, it is estimated that the value of pollination by bees is over $12 billion annually in the US alone! Other pollinators include butterflies, birds, bats, beetles and other insects."

The benefits of a pesticide-free environment reach beyond birds and insects, of course. Some insecticides, herbicides, fungicides and fertilizers "have been shown to cause hormonal disruption (particularly in relation to the male reproductive system), cancers, birth defects and neurological effects," the group stated, adding that the contamination of landscapes can last for years.

"The US Fish and Wildlife Service states that homeowners now use 10 times more chemicals per acre than farmers. So in fact that is good news because it means that change is within our control. By having landscapes that are free from harmful chemicals and by growing native plants to provide our pollinators with food and habitat you will be able to participate in the Pathway and play a role in protecting our environment, our food source and our health."

For more information about the Darien Pollinator Pathway, safe landscaping practices and native plants, visit thewebsite: https://www.pollinator-pathway.org/darien, contact the group at
darien@pollinatorpathway.org or follow it on Instagram @darienpollinatorpathway.

Photo: Back row, Pollinator Pathway co-chair Deepika Saksena, Nature Center Executive Director Leila Wetmore, Pollinator Pathway co-chair Juliet Cain. Front row, Gardener's Center owner Kris Barker, Nature Center Program Director Emily Ciffone, Darien Librarian Susie Skerrett, Nature Center Program Teacher Nina Miller. Photo credit: Leah Salomoni

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