National Pollinator Week: Guided Campus Walk

Western’s Friends of the Garden (FOGs) and Campus as a Living Lab program are offering a 1.5 hour guided walk on Western Campus to celebrate Pollinator Week, an annual celebration in support of pollinator conservation (https://pollinatorpartnership.ca/en/pollinator-week-canada). This week is focused on the conservation of pollinators, animals that move pollen (on their bodies) from one plant to another. Pollinators provide this invisible but essential service, which sustains the reproduction of most flowering plants, and promotes ecosystem health and biodiversity. Unfortunately, as we are currently in an unprecedented global biodiversity crisis driven by human activity, pollinators and other insects are in decline. These declines are driven by climate change and pesticide use, but most of all by a loss of feeding and nesting habitat for these species.

On this guided walk, you will be introduced to pollinators and the plants they pollinate on campus, as well as issues surrounding their conservation and ways that you can support your local pollinators. We will discuss simple ways that you can integrate pollinators into your life, such as naturalizing your yard to provide a pollinator garden. Whether you have a fully naturalized garden at home or never knew there were pollinators other than bees, everyone is welcome.

This guided walk will be led by Benjamin Souriol, Samuel Rycroft, and Jackson Kusack (Biology Department, Ph.D. Students). We will visit several different habitats across campus, including the newly expanded Pollinator Garden. No reservation needed.  

Wear a hat/cap, bring a bottle of water, and be yourself with nature.