Press Herald reports on pollinator gardens planted by UMaine researchers
The Portland Press Herald reported on pollinator gardens planted in May by University of Maine researchers at the former Pine Tree Landfill in Hampden. The gardens — one mostly flowers on the capped landfill itself, and the other shrubs at its edge — are intended to attract threatened native bees and nourish them with pollen and nectar, according to the article. Frank Drummond, an entomology specialist with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension and a UMaine professor of insect ecology, said the idea often occurred to him as he drove by the old landfill on the way to work. He said he thought “it would be nice to make the landscape a little more beneficial to the biodiversity of animals in the area.” Drummond mentioned the idea to his colleague, Alison Dibble, now the project’s lead researcher. She wrote and received a grant from the Natural Resources Conservation Service, a branch of the USDA, and then reached out to Casella Waste Systems, the company that manages the old landfill, the article states. “Usually, what happens is the first year, the bees will begin to discover it, but it’s the second, third and fourth year when you tend to get large amounts of flowering and the bees can take advantage,” Drummond said.