Second of two parts

An organization dedicated to protecting North Carolina’s natural resources has established a Butterfly Highway throughout the state as a way to restore pollinator and wildlife habitats.

Angel Hjarding, pollinator and wildlife habitat programs director for the North Carolina Wildlife Federation, explained that a backyard pollinator garden helps provide valuable food and habitat for pollinators and wildlife.

“They help us build a connected ‘highway’ of safe places for pollinators to eat and raise their young,” she said, which is the purpose of the Wildlife Federation’s Butterfly Highway. To help create corridors across North Carolina for butterflies, birds, bumblebees and all of the native pollinators in the state.

“The goal of the Butterfly Highway is to bring together a coalition of public and private land owners committed to protecting and conserving habitat for pollinators and wildlife across North Carolina,” she said. “These partnerships are critical to achieving our long-term conservation goals.”

The Butterfly Highway began with several communities in Charlotte wanting to beautify their environment through planting gardens, according to the federation’s website. “Through the Butterfly Highway, these communities are transforming community gardens, backyard gardens, public spaces and park fragments into new pollinator and wildlife habitats. The Butterfly Highway has also provided capacity for communities to participate in a community based citizen science project that tracks butterflies and bumble bees. No garden is too small to make an impact and all together they are a part of the Butterfly Highway.”

Since the program’s inception, the Butterfly Highway has achieved success across the state, Hjarding said. “From rural lands in Eastern North Carolina to urban cityscapes in the Piedmont, the Butterfly Highway is working to protect habitat and build advocacy and awareness for pollinators. More than 2,000 pollinator pit stops have been registered on the Butterfly Highway protecting over 30,000 acres of land for pollinators.”

To become part of the Butterfly Highway, visit the website, www.butterflyhighway.org, take the Butterfly Highway pledge and become part of the community. There are Butterfly Highway signs available on the site to post at a pollinator pit stop to help educate friends and neighbors on the importance of the pollinator garden.

Hjarding explained that the declines in monarch and honeybee populations have made national news headlines and brought attention to the troubles facing insect pollinators.

“The iconic monarch butterfly has faced a significant population decline, and in the winter of 2014-2015 reached an all-time low in their overwintering locations in Mexico,” she said. “Monarch butterflies were once commonly seen in the spring and fall migration through North Carolina but now sightings have become rarer due to the declining population and available habitat.”

She explained that the decline has been attributed to numerous factors that include forest loss in overwintering areas, loss of breeding habitat due to agricultural practices, urbanization, increase pesticide use and the effects of climate change.

“Adult monarchs rely on a variety of nectar plants to provide energy for their long migration to Mexico as well as milkweed to lay their eggs on, as milkweed is the only plant that monarch caterpillars will eat,” Hjarding said.

Hjarding added that without these flowers and plants, monarchs will not be able to survive. Species of wild bees and bumblebees have also declined during the last 50 years because of many of the same issues that are affecting monarchs and other pollinators.

“Pollinators such as bumblebees, butterflies, and other insects are critical to North Carolina’s biological diversity and agricultural economy. Our native pollinators face numerous threats including loss of native plant habitat that provides vital nectar and pollen resources,” Hjarding said.

The coastal areas of North Carolina are important for pollinator conservation, especially for monarchs.

“Monarchs use the sea winds during their fall migration and rely on fall blooming plants such as seaside goldenrod to fuel their journey south. You can help by planting native flowers, trees, shrubs and grasses that provide food and habitat for pollinators,” Hjarding said. “We have some ideas on our website to help you get started. We will also be offering a newly redesigned native pollinator seed mix on our website that people can order.”

Nancy Lee Adamson, senior pollinator conservation specialist with the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service’s East National Technology Support Center in Greensboro, emphasized that the coast is especially important for some migratory pollinators such as monarch butterflies and the Gulf fritillary butterfly.

Xerces Society is a nonprofit invertebrate conservation organization. Invertebrates are animals without backbones such as insects, spiders, mollusks such as mussels and crustaceans like crabs.

“While it’s important to include milkweed and passion vine plants to host their caterpillars, the adults need nectar plants,” Adamson said.

Some of the most important nectar plants are found along the coast including groundsel and seaside goldenrod. Other coastal plants include blanket flowers, dotted mint, seashore mallow, vanilla leaf, golden asters and sweet pepperbush, Adamson continued. A full list can be found here.

Hjarding added that the Wildlife Federation is a leading partner in the newly established North Carolina Pollinator Conservation Alliance, or NCPCA.

“The mission of the NCPCA is to provide public and private landowners guidance and resources to best support the health and diversity of pollinators in North Carolina through protection, restoration and creation of pollinator habitat,” Hjarding said. “NCPCA is comprised of almost 30 partner organizations, agencies, universities, and corporations. NCPCA recently published an in-depth technical guidance document for the creation of pollinator habitat on solar farms.”

First of two parts

While planning your spring garden, consider adding native plants and more diversity to make your yard a haven for pollinators and wildlife.

“As agriculture has intensified and our populations have grown, a lot of habitat has been lost, so even a pot of flowers on the front porch can make a big difference by supporting hundreds of pollinators,” said Nancy Lee Adamson, senior pollinator conservation specialist with the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service in Greensboro.

The Xerces Society is a nonprofit invertebrate conservation organization. Invertebrates are animals without backbones such as insects, spiders, mollusks such as mussels and crustaceans like crabs.

If you’re adding plants with pollinators in mind, you’ll want to include a diversity of plants that bloom throughout the year, Adamson explained. “Ideally, include native wildflowers, shrubs, trees and even grasses. Native plants are best for butterflies and bees … but many other plants can benefit pollinators,” she said, adding that Xerces and other conservation organizations encourage avoiding invasive plants, a list of which can be found at the North Carolina Native Plant Society.

Pollinators are important because, besides pollinating 90 percent of wild plants and 75 percent of crops, “pollinators ensure the growth of plants that provide oxygen, clean water, materials for shelter, medicines, shade, reduce wind and noise, support the other wildlife we love to see like birds, mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and amphibians, either as food themselves or the seed, fruit, or structure provided by plants,” she said.

One way pollinators support other wildlife is by being a food source for hatchlings. Audubon North Carolina Field Organizer Kim Brand said that large native trees are ideal larval host plants for butterflies and moths, which baby land birds survive on.

“Caterpillars are the most important food for baby land birds. A nest full of chickadees needs more than 5,000 caterpillars just from hatching to the time they leave the nest,” Brand said. Large native trees such as oaks, hickories and pines are an excellent source of caterpillars because so many species of butterflies and moths lay eggs on them.

“For example, more than 500 species lay eggs on oak trees native to North America; for comparison, fewer than 10 species of native moths and caterpillars lay eggs on ginkgo leaves. The ginkgo is a food desert as far as caterpillars and parent birds are concerned,” she said. “We can also support a lot of caterpillars – and therefore feed the baby birds – with native perennials like goldenrods, asters, and joe-pye weed. All species that also feed adult pollinators, doing double-duty.”

Adamson recommends Doug Tallamy’s “Bringing Nature Home” and Sarah Stein’s “Noah’s Garden” as resources for understanding connections between native plants, native pollinators and other wildlife, including many birds. Xerces offers online plant lists and planting guides.

Edible plants or plants with fragrant leaves are pollinator plants that are also fun for kids.

“Strawberries, lavender, mint, parsley, dill, blackberries, black raspberries, onions, okra, squash, and passionfruit are all very easy to grow,” Adamson added. Just remember that caterpillars are butterfly larvae and eat the plants. The black swallowtail butterfly depends on parsley family plants, such as fennel and dill.

Eliminate Pesticides

Another simple way to provide habitat is to eliminate the use of pesticides, including herbicides, and leave unmown areas, dead trees or brush piles. Adamson recommended placing signs in your yard to help others understand that an unmown area or brush pile is intentional and help start a conversation about pollinator conservation.

“If no pesticides are used, the plants also support diverse predatory and parasitoid insects that eat the insects we consider pests, such as aphids and whiteflies. We might not think of ladybugs as pollinators, but they do some pollination, and depend on the same diverse flowers that bees and butterflies do, while their larvae are also voracious aphid and insect egg eaters,” she said.

An added benefit of using native pollinator plants is that the plants help protect soil. The roots and the microorganisms they support help water infiltrate deeper into the earth and reduce flooding.

“The plants not only help slow the movement of water, hold soil in place, and create deeper channels for water to reach underground, but the microorganisms that live in connection with the plants help clean the water,” Adamson explained. “Besides adding beauty to your landscape, native pollinator plants can also provide shelter from wind and shade.”

She recommends evergreens such as wax myrtle, inkberry holly, yaupon, sweet bay magnolia and eastern red cedar to support diverse pollinators, including one of her favorite butterflies, the juniper hairstreak butterfly.

“Many of our shade trees like red maple and black gum produce huge quantities of nectar and host diverse caterpillars. Even native grasses are vital, sheltering bumble bee nests when they lodge over, keeping the colony dry and out of site from predators like hawks.”

Proper Viewing

Adamson reminds you that if you get too close to bees, wasps or other insects on flowers, they will fly away.

“Only bees and wasps with colonies, like honey bees and yellow jackets, become defensive if you get too close to their nests, but not flowers. Most of our bees and wasps are solitary, “she said. “Unlike honey bees and yellow jackets that have colonies with a queen, young and food to protect, most bees and wasps are single moms, collecting food to place in a nest cell underground or in a cavity where she will lay an egg and never see her young hatch,” she said.

An example is the mud dauber wasp that collect spiders to lay eggs on. “Even though several tubes may be placed close together, single wasps are making each tube, so will either hide or fly away if you get too close. You can buy a wasp-deterrent paper lantern to keep yellow jackets from nesting near your door or paint your porch ceiling blue to keep them from nesting close to your house.”

She explained that if you place a bee observation box for solitary bees by your front door, “It is fun to watch them depositing pollen and nectar, laying an egg, then sealing the cells. Remember, your plantings stewardship can help support pollinators while also contributing to the well-being of your whole community,” she added.

“We just joined up with Bee City and Bee Campus USA a wonderful group that started in Asheville, NC www.beecityusa.org, so we hope to be able to support more urban greening work and fun art related efforts in future.”

Adamson pointed out that riparian areas and wetlands are especially important for pollinators. “During droughts they may be the only places where pollinators can find nectar and pollen producing plants. As urban areas grow, protecting riparian corridors is vital for pollinators and other wildlife, and can also help ensure green space for our own well-being. More and more research is highlighting the importance of green spaces on our health, cognitive abilities and creativity.”

Some folks think that pollinator gardens could cause allergies, but only wind-pollinated plants cause hay fever, she said. “Plants that require a pollinator have sticky, heavy pollen and are never listed in pollen counts, only wind-pollinated plants like oaks, pines, ragweed and grasses.”

Next: The Butterfly Highway