Editor’s note: This announcement was provided by EcoPel. The Pelham Examiner publishes announcements in the form received as a service to the community.
It is generally believed that the more diverse an ecosystem, the stronger and better able it is to sustain itself in the face of external stresses. When the Environmental Coalition of the Pelhams (EcoPel) teamed up more than a year ago with the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT), and Mario Bulfamante & Sons Landscaping to restore a sustainable roadside ecosystem for pollinators, it became clear that it isn’t just wildlife that benefits when working together, but communities too.
Like ecosystems, communities build resilience when interested members and diverse organizations come together to act on issues they care about. And Pelham showed up strong in spring to plant a pollinator meadow at the Hutchinson River Parkway Exit 4 (Boston Post Road) as part of the NYSDOT Adopt-a-Highway partnership program. More than 40 volunteers from groups including the Village of Pelham Climate Smart Communities Task Force and Sustainability Advisory Board, Pelham Healthy Yards, Girl Scouts of the USA, Junior League of Pelham Sustainability Committee, the Pelham Schoolyard Committee and NYSDOT Residency 8 – 9 maintenance crew, gathered to sow a quarter of an acre of donated “founder seeds” farmed as part of New York City Parks Greenbelt Native Plant Center Seed Increase Program.
Their mutual goals were clear for this climate-friendly, turf-to-native plant meadow roadside restoration:
- Build biodiversity to support declining pollinator populations
- Provide wildlife habitat for birds, insects, and small mammals
- Manage stormwater and sequester carbon
- Keep Pelham healthy and beautiful
More than just Pelham residents participated. Neighbors from across Westchester County, including Mount Vernon, New Rochelle, and Northern Westchester, also joined to learn how community-led campaigns and partnerships with government agencies in environmental initiatives can impact their neighborhoods. Environmental activist Cathy Ludden, of the Greenburgh Nature Center applauded the work of our NYSDOT partners and asked more about their land maintenance practices. “This is such an inspiring model for community action in cooperation with the government. The involvement of NYSDOT with local volunteers is a great sign that the need to reclaim land for nature is being more widely recognized.”
In fact, encouraging pollinator habitat along our nation’s roadsides was lawfully passed nearly a decade ago through the “Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act-Public Law 2114-94). According to the Pollinator Partnership, there are 17 million miles of potential highway habitat in the U.S. that can support pollinators and Section 1415 of the FAST Act directs the Secretary of Transportation to use existing authorities, programs and funding to encourage pollinator habitat efforts through reduced mowing and integrated vegetation management (IVM) practices like planting native plants, by willing State DOT’s.
Luckily for Pelham, its Hutchinson River Parkway roadsides fall under the authority of Lynn Jablowsky, NYSDOT Resident Engineer Residency 8-9 whose leadership actively encourages pollinator habitat efforts. She works closely not only with Aileen Helsley, Maintenance Environmental Coordinator, Hudson Valley Region, but on the grounds with her maintenance crew and New York City DOT (NYCDOT), who often share responsibility for the area, to ensure the success of new plantings.
Recently during a volunteer work day at the wildlife habitat planting, EcoPel crossed paths with Eric Barbados, one of NYCDOT’s roadside maintenance crew. After learning more from the people behind the partnership, he commented while gazing across the swathe of at least 300 shimmering native sumac shrubs thriving on land he no longer mows, “This is a thing of beauty. How do we get more people to do this?”
The Environmental Coalition of the Pelhams (EcoPel) is a grassroots, non-partisan organization in Pelham NY concerned with environmental issues.
What action would you like to take? To learn more, become involved, and donate, please join and follow EcoPel on Instagram and Facebook @ecopelny and visit their website at ecopel.org
Follow Village of Pelham Sustainability Advisory Board/Climate Smart Communities Task Force for these and other climate-friendly initiatives: @sustainablepelham on Facebook, and @climatesmartpelham on Instagram.
