The Loudon Elementary School front lawn has been abuzz recently thanks to a new pollinator garden that is such to attract flower-loving visitors from miles around.
The garden was built thanks to a New Hampshire Partnership for Schoolyard Action grant, according to Loudon Elementary School media specialist Becky Herrmann, who is a beekeeper herself. The grant is meant to encourage nature-based learning in the classroom, and Herrmann said the garden is already doing just that.
“It’s really taken the fear of bees away from the kids,” she said. “They were a little nervous at first, but we would just encourage them to get down, be really quiet, and observe what they’re doing. And now, the kids will run up to me and say, ‘I saw a pollinator!’”
Much like the hive of a honey bee, construction of the garden was a community effort. Herrmann said she collaborated with local businesses to get building materials donated, and the school’s maintenance staff built the hexagonal frames. Each of the school’s roughly 300 students also participated, either by digging holes or planting soil, Herrmann said.
Already, the garden has had multiple visitors, both insect and human. Herrmann said there are six beekeepers within a mile of the school, and neighbors have already promised to weed the garden while school is out of session. Otherwise, the garden is designed to be relatively self-sustaining, Hermann said: The flagstones are grooved so that puddles can collect for insects, and the garden is positioned over a sprinkler, so no additional watering is necessary. The plants were chosen so that different plants will flower at different parts of the year.
The school was making an effort to involve its students in plant-based learning before the garden was built. Next to the pollinator garden are a few fruit trees and a vegetable garden, the bounty of which goes to the local food pantry. And with the addition of the pollinator garden, Herrmann said she hopes to teach students about the vital role pollinators play in our agricultural system.
“I think everyone needs to be aware of what we’re doing to our environment,” she said. “Especially the kids, they need to know that you don’t just go to Shaws and get your food – there’s a lot that goes into your food beforehand, and a lot of that food, like nuts and fruits, wouldn’t exist without pollinators.”
Crops that depend on pollinators account for up to one-third of total U.S. food consumption, according to a recent study from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Bees’ pollination services to the agriculture business are worth $200 billion worldwide, according to the Bee Lab at the University of New Hampshire, and are crucial insurance to local fruit growers.
But although honey bees aren’t the only pollinators – butterflies, fruit bats and even snails can provide this critical service – the vitality of the country’s honey bees has been a subject of concern for the past decade.
A combination of stressors, such as pests, insecticides, and winter starvation has led to a condition called colony collapse. As a result, honey bee mortality is higher than in previous decades, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture study. Annual losses nationally varied between 29 and 45 percent of colonies from 2010-11 to 2015-16.
In New Hampshire, the loss was particularly bad this winter. A survey conducted by the New Hampshire Beekeepers Association showed the state lost 65 percent of its beehives, with Merrimack and Belknap Counties reporting the highest losses.
The number of hives in the state dropped from 1,004 in October to 350 in April, according to the survey. The one-year drop is dramatic because New Hampshire beekeepers have already lost more than 60 percent of their hives from 2009 to 2016, according to the Bee Informed Partnership, which collects national data on the decline of honeybees in the United States.
(Caitlin Andrews can be reached at 369-3309.)