ND Farmer Plants Pollinator Plots To Help Bees, Butterflies
HAZEN, N.D. (AP) — A North Dakota farmer has seeded part of his land with grass and flowering plants in hopes to feed bees and butterflies.
Bill Wagner of Hazen is taking part in a program to help form a new pollinator habitat for bees and monarch butterflies since both species are in trouble, The Bismarck Tribune ( ) reported. The new program is a collaboration of nonprofits Pheasants Forever and Project Apis m., and the Browning Honey Co. The groups hope that landowners in North Dakota and South Dakota with ground to spare can help provide an environment for food for the bees and butterflies.
The program provides seeds for free as well as some monetary compensation. Wagner said he got interested in the pollinator plots because they act as brooding cover for pheasant chicks. The plants attract insects and have enough structure to protect the chicks and space among them for the birds to move around.
Wagner and his wife planted the seeds, which are designed to have plants blooming from May to September, on seven acres. Half of his acreage was planted with a mix for the butterflies, the other half with a mix for the bees.
The bee mix consists of 19 seed types, including several varieties of clovers, grasses and native wildflowers, such as the native smooth blue aster. The monarch butterfly mix has around 44 seed times; about half are for native wildflowers, some grasses and milkweed — the only food source for monarch larvae.
Wagner said he’s now just waiting for rain. He said he expects the plants’ growth to vary by the seed.
“Some will catch and go — the alfalfa and clovers will take right off the first year,” he said. “It’s such a huge mix, so some, especially the native grasses, I don’t expect will really take off until the second year.”
Wagner put in his application for the program while snow was still on the ground and said he has been looking forward to seeing some color on his land from the plants.
“I’m hoping this is absolutely beautiful. Blossoms everywhere, that’s what I would love to see here,” he said.
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Information from: Bismarck Tribune,
