Keep Fitchburg Beautiful wins grant
The $500 windfall will buy more pollinator plants for the city.
FITCHBURG » Keep Fitchburg Beautiful recently landed a $500 Plant Something Bee-eautiful grant from Keep Massachusetts Beautiful to help pay for additional pollinatorfriendly plants.
Keep Fitchburg Beautiful is collaborating with the North County Land Trust, the Busy Bees Preschool, and Growing Places, a nonprofit that specializes in community gardening, to establish community gardens on a newly acquired parcel along Quarry Lane in Fitch
burg.
This community garden is in a densely populated, ethnically diverse neighborhood that has been designated by the state as an Environmental Justice area.
It will consist of raised beds where students and neighbors can garden and learn together. The plan will incorporate a pollinator garden into the entrance of the property as well as mini pollinator patches throughout the raised beds. In addition to pollinators on the property itself, the group plans to create pollinator corridors throughout the neighborhood by providing plants to neighbors.
Sam Squailia, a Fitchburg city councilor-at
large, launched Keep Fitchburg Beautiful in February 2020 to organize volunteers to help clean up and green up the city.
“We’re so happy to be able to partner with local organizations to make a difference in beautifying our community — from litter cleanup on our streets and parks to planting pollinator gardens — and beyond,” Squailia said.
Bees and other pollinators are in serious decline around the world.
According to the Pollinator Partnership, the monarch butterfly population has declined by 90% over the past 20 years. Pollinators, including 20,000 species of wild bees, contribute to the growth of fruit, vegetables, and flowering plants. Plants that depend on pollination make up 35% of global crop production volume.
The decline of pollina
tors is caused by habitat destruction, the overuse of pesticides that include neonicotinoids, farming practices that eliminate patches of wildflowers and cover crops, parasites and pathogens, as well as climate change.
“Our Plant Something Bee-eautiful program is all about beautifying public spaces while also restoring natural habitats for pollinators,” said Neil Rhein, founder and executive director of Keep Massachusetts Beautiful. “Bees and other pollinators are an essential link in our food chain and this program provides funding toward a solution. We’re pleased to support Keep Fitchburg Beautiful in this effort.”
To learn more about KFB visit www.keepfitchburgbeautiful.com and to learn more KMB visit www.keepmassbeauti-ful.org.