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Friday, Mar. 29, 2024

L’view students help make pollinator plot

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) announced, in April, a new conservation effort for Ohio agriculture producers to help combat future declines of honey bees and Monarch butterflies by providing food and habitat sources.

Chayten Overholt and Jaden Youtsey help create a pollinator plot. (photo submitted)
Chayten Overholt and Jaden Youtsey help create a pollinator plot. (photo submitted)

More than 80 percent of the world’s plants need pollinators to survive, including many that provide the food we eat. But many pollinators like honey bees and Monarch butterflies are in trouble. That’s why NRCS works with private landowners to create food and habitat for pollinators on farms and in forests.

NRCS provides technical and financial assistance through its Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) to help producers voluntarily implement conservation practices such as planting cover crops, planting milkweed, and planting wildflowers, and native grasses in buffers and areas not in production. IN total, more than 3 dozen NRCS conservation practices provide benefits to pollinators.

Two Lincolnview students, Chayten Overholt and Jaden Youtsey, helped complete a pollinator plot located in Pleasant Township, Van Wert County. They volunteered several hours to plant the following plants: bare rooted apple, wild plum, crabapple, elderberry, and blackberry and raspberry bushes. This plot will help to feed bats, butterflies, and honey bees.
To learn more about EQIP and other technical and financial assistance available through NRCS conservation programs, visit “Get Started with NRCS or local USDA Service Centers”.

POSTED: 05/04/17 at 6:31 am. FILED UNDER: Lancer Lines