Every city park should have a pollinator meadow!

Wild Pollinator Partners (WPP) is partnering with the Ottawa Stewardship Council (OSC) to establish more pollinator habitat on city land - including parks, hydro corridors, and rights of way. If you or your community organization are near a city park or hydro corridor, WPP and OSC will help you create a wildflower meadow. OSC will handle the permission process, and WPP will provide advice, models, some polliantor plants, and lots of encouragement.

Your job as a project participant will be to:

• Liaise with neighbours and your City Councillor to find out how your park is currently being used, where a pollinator meadow might fit in, and whether there is support for the project.
• Organize the prep work and conduct the planting.
• Agree to ongoing maintenance and monitoring of the pollinator meadow.

This last step is not onerous - at Brighton Beach Park, Old Ottawa South's Environment and Climate Action Committee prunes shrubs in fall, digs out dandelions in spring (about 4 hours total), and maintains a mowing strip around the garden. Monitoring is important to see how various species are doing in your location and to stop invasive species early. Visit the link here to read about these two mini-meadows at Brighton.

WPP and OSC already have several individuals/groups who are interested in starting a pollinator mini-meadow as part of this project, but are looking for a few more to join. If you or your organization is interested, please reach out to info@wildpollinators-pollinisateurssauvages.ca

See the document below for a complete project description.

CAFES had an excellent day at Fletcher Wildlife Garden on Saturday, June 7th at Pollinator Appreciation Day! Organized by Wild Pollinator Partners, this event was a wonderful opportunity for community members to come out and speak to local organizations, researchers, gardeners and plant nurseries about actions we can all take to make our homes and environments more pollinator-friendly.

CAFES was there selling our pollinator perennials plants, as well as worm castings from the Box of Life. We had a lovely time speaking with attendees about our trees and greenspace advocacy work, and our collaboration with Carleton University in fall 2024 on community engagement for pollinator gardening.

Be sure to visit Wild Pollinator Partners for some excellent resources about how you can make a difference for the many critical species on which we rely for a healthy ecosystem. Thanks to all who came out to support this event! Special shout-out to CAFES board member Harry Fischer - thanks for all your organizing!