Pollinator plant project is for the birds

When the Western Great Lakes Bird and Bat Observatory surveyed 1,000 Port Washington residents to determine their interest in gardening with pollinator plants, organizers were surprised at the response.

People were receptive to using these plants in their gardens, they just didn’t know how to care for them, Jennifer Phillips-Vanderberg, the organization’s science director, said.

“I thought, ‘We can address that,’”  Phillips-Vanderberg said. 

Other concerns expressed by residents were that they didn’t know what native plants were or where to get them, Jill Kunsmann, secretary and events chairman for the observatory, said.

The answers surprised her, the women said.

“I thought people would say it would be messy (to use pollinator plants), that it just wouldn’t look good,” Phillips-Vanderberg said. “Other researchers had asked that before, and that was the response they had gotten.”

That research was primarily done elsewhere in the country, Phillips-Vanderberg noted. 

If it seems odd that a group dedicated to birds and bats is asking people about plants, think back to science class.

“It’s really critical we have a healthy population of insects to support birds,” Phillips-Vanderberg said. “We know native plants support more insects. Birds eat a lot of insects, especially when they’re breeding. Birds, even if they’re seed-eaters, feed insects to their chicks.

“All those things you learned in school are true — everything’s connected.”

The survey is the first step in a five-year native habitat improvement program being run by the Bird and Bat Observatory aimed at restoring the bird population.

A study done last year showed that about a quarter of the bird species in North America have been lost since 1970, Phillips-Vanderberg said.

“It was a wake-up call for a lot of people,” she said.

While the reasons for the decline vary depending on where you are, habitat loss is a major cause, Phillips-Vanderberg said.

When the Western Great Lakes Bird and Bat Observatory moved its headquarters from Forest Beach Migratory Preserve to the City of Port Washington, it had a well developed base of volunteers and a history of monitoring programs but wanted to expand into more research-based projects, Kunsmann said.

Out of that came the native habitat improvement project with Port as its base, she said, noting the observatory had a good relationship with the city and the community is known as a conservation-minded place.

The project was originally intended to begin with an in-person event, but as with most events this year, the coronavirus pandemic forced a change.

The observatory targeted two Port Washington neighborhoods, one near the Birchwood Hills Nature Area and the other near the Sauk Creek Nature Preserve, for the survey — areas near bodies of water and parks.

They received about a 10% response rate, with each household responding receiving a milkweed planting kit.

In spring, they will meet one-on-one with families to help give advice of pollinator plantings that’s tailored to their homes, Phillips-Vanderberg said.

“They will look at the property and tell them, in your individual space, this is what fits,” she said. 

The observatory is also moving its plant sale to Port next year, making it easier for people to purchase pollinator plants, Kunsmann said.

“The message we want people to take home is talk about native plants, talk about insects and birds and do what you can to help them,” Phillips-Vanderberg said. “This is all about how can we work with people to support species of all kinds.”

It will take several years for birds to respond to any change in the amount of pollinators plants and insects, so this project is a long-term one, she said.

First they will establish a baseline, then monitor to see any changes that result as more pollinator and native plants are established in the area.

Volunteers will begin monitoring the area in spring, and the group will also be installing nesting boxes in the area. They will also reach out to community groups to get the word out. 

“We will be doing a lot of outreach to get people to plant more native plants,” Phillips-Vanderberg said. “We’ll see how the birds react, and we’ll put out a lot of nest boxes to monitor what happens.”

Kunsmann noted that the organization will be working to create model and participant gardens with placards and pledge cards to celebrate native plantings.

“By transforming a hidden behavior into a public one, the project hopes to create a community around native plantings and promote habitat improving behavior as a desirable norm,”  she said.

The Western Great Lakes Bird and Bat Observatory is working with a number of other agencies in its effort, including the City of Port Washington, the Lakeshore Natural Resource partnership, Wisconsin Monarch Collaborative and Wild Ones, which is doing a video about the project that will be presented online.

If the project is successful, Phillips-Vanderberg said, they hope to repeat the project elsewhere.

“It’s all about reversing the declines in insects and birds,” she said. “And doing our part to help nature.”