Let's Get Bee-zy

Project Description 

Let’s Get Bee-zy is a Bloomberg Philanthropies Youth Climate Action Fund grant-sponsored project, focusing on the aspect of increasing pollinators within our community, Hastings-on-Hudson. Our community lacks pollinators; many of them are dying out as a result of habitat destruction and climate change. The lack of pollinators negatively affects many plants in Hastings, particularly flowering ones. To support pollinators, we decided to build a pollinator garden at the Lower Burke wetlands. The goals of our project are to increase the populations of pollinators in Hastings, specifically bees, and to help increase biodiversity at the Lower Burke wetlands. 

Outputs 

• Increase in pollinator plants in the Burke Wetlands (60 plants)

• Increase in mini pollinator gardens (15 mini pollinator gardens)

Outcomes 

• As a result of our pollinator garden, there has been an increase in pollinators.

• As a result of our pollinator garden, there has been an increase in biodiversity in the Lower Burke wetlands.

• As a result of our project, there are now 15 sections of plants located at the Lower Burke wetlands.

Process

1. Created a plan and a list of materials we needed for our project.

2. Met with multiple people to discuss the potential location of the garden.

3. Chose and bought the pollinator plants online.

4. Obtained the plants that were to be planted and maintained them at home for a few days. 

5. Weeded out the areas for the plants.

6. Picked up litter from the area.

7. Planted the plants in the Lower Burke wetlands.

8. Watered plants and placed growing tubes/nets around them.

9. Possible creation of a project for Hastings K.I.D.S. surrounding our pollinator garden.

Lessons Learned

• We learned about the various types of plants that can be utilized to create an ideal pollinator garden.

•  We learned techniques for planting and maintaining a garden.

• We learned about the importance of pollinators in our community through this project.

Students Involved

• 3 Project Leaders aged 15-24

• 2 Total Project Participants (excluding leaders)

• 0 Project Participants aged 15-24 (excluding leaders)

Before photos of the area for planting

Arrival of plants and their maintenance

Sorting through the plants and categorizing them

Weeding and planting the garden

Thank You's

Thank you to Don Erwin, Molly Roberts, Mayor Armacost, Seren Zamore, Michael Evans, and Jack Maney for all of their assistance throughout our project, Let’s Get Bee-zy, and thank you to Bloomberg Philanthropies for funding our project.