#MOFGA - #PlantCorridors

By Heather McCargo, Photos by Jean English, Winter 2014-2015

"#NativePlant corridors attract #pollinators and #wildlife to your farm by stretching across your property to connect your piece of #NativeHabitat to nearby #meadows, #wetlands or #woodlands. This creates a much larger area for #NativePollinators to #forage, raise young and migrate. Corridors may run along a road, between fields, in a #swale or on the edge of a #forest, connecting habitats off the property and returning native plants to the parts of the farm not suitable for traditional crops.

This article describes two approaches to creating native habitat corridors: changing #mowing habits to favor native species, and planting woody and herbaceous combinations to increase native plant diversity on the farm.

Populations of all native species are in decline across the state. Our human footprint is taking its toll on wild creatures, including pollinators such as #bees and #butterflies that are so important on the farm for crop pollination. Native plant species each share an evolutionary history with indigenous insects, birds, reptiles, mammals, bacteria and fungi. When native plants are gone, many of these creatures go too, leading to a collapse of ecosystem function. Farmers benefit from the services provided by a healthy ecosystem, such as groundwater recharge; clean surface streams and ponds; pollination; a diversity of birds, spiders and amphibians to eat many insects including crop pests; and beneficial soil fungi and bacteria. Fortunately, when native plants are reintroduced into a landscape, many of these other creatures return.

As farmers and landowners, we can bring native plants, and the attendant diversity, back into the Maine landscape in a way that works with a farmer’s busy schedule. Many native plants thrive in dry, wet and shady areas that are poor sites for traditional farm crops."

Learn more:
https://www.mofga.org/resources/pollinators/plant-corridors/

#SolarPunkSunday #GardeningForPollinators #NativePlantCorridors #Gardening #Farming #Homesteading #Nature #NatureConservation #NatureRestoration #Maine