Delaware State Parks and the Brandywine Zoo are highlighting the important role pollinators play with a series of events this month.
The events are part of a partnership with the National Recreation and Park Association called “Parks for Pollinators.” The Brandywine Zoo’s Lauren Barzac says pollinators play a crucial role in our ecosystem and their numbers are declining.
“For people, they're pollinating, a lot of times, 35% of plants," Barzac says. "So that's one in every three bites of food that you take every day. It's thanks to pollinating species, whether it's bats or bees or butterflies, all of the above.”
DNREC’s Angel Burns says there are a lot of ways to help pollinators in the First State, including making a visit to one of the state’s pollinator gardens.
“There's a lot of ways to get involved, whether it's through volunteering on the different conservation programs that we have through citizen science or even helping with our pollinator gardens," she says.
Another way to help pollinators is by participating in a big citizen scientist project through the iNaturalist app, recording data on pollinators and plants you see.
“The data that comes through that system, it basically goes into this big national database of biological diversity information," Barzac says. "So it's a really great way that we can track year to year what are the trends in populations.”
State parks are home to a number of pollinator gardens, and offer tips on planting pollinator-friendly plants at your home. For a list of Parks for Pollinators events around the state, visit destateparks.com.
