Iowa Sierra Club members--Join the effort to protect pollinators!

 

Iowa's Blank Park Zoo and several other organizations are encouraging the
planting of butterfly gardens in the state of Iowa during National
Pollinator Week (June 15-21).  Along with the Zoo's Plant.Grow.Fly
initiative, this effort will raise awareness about the critical issue of
declining pollinator populations and to call for action to help save these
vital species like the monarch butterfly. More than 1/3 of our global food
supply depends on pollinators, and honey bees alone add more than $15
billion in value to agricultural crops each year in the United States.

 

Sierra Club has joined this pollinator conservation program and we are
encouraging our members across the state to plant a garden that attracts and
supports these important pollinators.  If you already have a
pollinator-friendly garden or plant a new pollinator garden, please register
your garden at www.plantgrowfly.com . Then let us know by emailing
[log in to unmask] . 

 

You can help by:

                o  planting a variety of native plants in your yards and
gardens (ideas at www.plantgrowfly.com)                           

                o  reducing the use of pesticides on your lawn

                o  consider planting an organic lawn, that does not use
artificial fertilizers and pesticides

                o  purchasing organically-grown foods, that are produced
without the use of pesticides and artificial fertilizers

                o Planting milkweed seeds and raising milkweed in your
garden.  There are many varieties of milkweed native to Iowa and the common
milkweed is a favorite of the monarchs.

 

From Jane Clark and Pam Mackey-Taylor

 


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