• Organize a group of interested conservation organizations (garden club, land trust, watershed organization, nature center, town conservation commission…). Create a steering committee of volunteers from each organization.

 

• Identify land of highest conservation value to the community, and identify a pathway that connects these areas as well as open spaces already protected. 
   

• Hold a “kick-off” event at your library or community center to announce the launch of your pollinator pathway. Host speakers to discuss threats to pollinators, the importance of native plants to their survival, alternatives to pesticides… Contact us for speaker recommendations.

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• Use the town map to tell people what the Pollinator Pathway is.  The map of the towns on the Pathway will soon be available.

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• Let us know if you would like to have a page on the Pollinator-pathway.org website where you can list events and contact information for those interested in joining. Consider setting up a Facebook page, like @Wilton Pollinator Pathway, for example.

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• Raise money through donations or grants to remove invasives and plant native plants in your town’s open spaces. So far, these are the sorts of organizations that have supported plantings with grants: State Sustainability Programs, Corporations like REI and Patagonia, local Audubon and Ornithological Societies, Rotary Clubs, Garden Clubs, and private foundations, The Nature Conservancy’s Community Resilience Building Program, and The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

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• Invite the community to volunteer at planting events. Show volunteers which plants are the local invasives and which natives are good replacements, then put everyone to work! Try the SEEK app by INaturalist for identifying native and non-native plants.

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• Contact residents along the designated pathway and invite them to avoid using pesticides and add native plants to their landscaping.  Consider offering that garden club members will visit on-site to advise on how to add native tree, shrubs, perennials or a meadow and which plants will work best in their yard.

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• Contact the local paper and engage them in helping to publicize the plight of pollinators and what your town is doing to help support them.
   

• Engage with your local municipality to enact a resolution or proclamation that will provide safety for pollinators. To read about what other municipalities have accomplished click here.

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• Engage volunteers and residents in citizen science projects: keep a count of plants your town adds to its pathway; sponsor local bee, butterfly & bird counts; take part in Bumble Bee Watch, INaturalist, City Nature Challenge, or in NY the Empire State Native Pollinator Survey.

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• Keep in touch and share ideas! More information on each of these steps is available.  Contact us with questions at Info@pollinator-pathway.