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June 17-23 is POLLINATOR WEEK

From the Connecticut Council on Soil and Water Conservation
Press Contact: Lilian Ruiz, Executive Director
33 Mead Ave., Cos Cob, CT 06807
203-424-8469
ctcoucilswc@gmail.com

PRESS RELEASE

 

 

 

 

Time to Celebrate Our Butterflies and Bees!

The Connecticut Council on Soil and Water Conservation is pleased to announce that Governor Ned Lamont has proclaimed June 17-23, 2019 as POLLINATOR WEEK in the State of Connecticut. Twelve years ago the U.S. designated a week in June as “National Pollinator Week” to bring attention to the issue of declining pollinator populations. “With the proclamation, Connecticut joins
what has grown into an international celebration of bees, birds, butterflies, bats, beetles, and other pollinators” states Lilian Ruiz, Executive Director for the CT Council on Soil and Water Conservation. “We were thrilled to receive the Governor’s proclamation and acknowledgment of this important issue.”

Pollinators are estimated to be responsible for the pollination of 75% to 95% of flowering plant species on earth. The plants provide not only much of the food we eat, but healthy forests for clean air and clean water. Unfortunately, pollinator populations are threatened mostly due to loss of habitat. Additionally, pollution, misuse of chemicals, disease, and climate change are all contributing to the decline. In Connecticut, government agencies, non-profit organizations, and private citizens across
the state are working hard to protect pollinators and the valuable ecosystem services they provide.

The five Conservation Districts in Connecticut provide technical assistance to municipalities and landowners related to soil health, water quality, and habitat protection. “Supporting pollinator health is a big part of the CT Conservation District annual spring plant sales” explains Jane Brawerman, Executive Director for the CT River Coastal Conservation District. “One of the criteria we use in selecting plants to sell, almost all of which are native to CT, is their value to a variety of pollinators–including bees, flies, butterflies and hummingbirds-from early in the season through the fall.”

The CT Dept. of Transportation has been working on pollinator habitat in road right of ways beginning in 2017 with eight sites. They have expanded the program to 50 sites this year as designated “Conservation Areas”, as explained in a press release earlier this year. “We’re very proud of this program and excited to get it off the ground” stated Kimberly Lesay, Connecticut DOT Transportation Assistant Planning Director.

According to Mary Ellen Lemay, Facilitator, Hudson to Housatonic Regional Conservation Partnership and member of the Pollinator Pathway team, Connecticut has become a leader in pollinator awareness starting with the approval of the Pollinator Protection Act (2016) and the subsequent launch of the Pollinator Pathway in Fairfield County in 2017. The Pathway has grown to over 40 towns in CT and over the border into NY in the last 2 years. The Pollinator Pathway teams have encouraged the planting of native plants and the avoidance of pesticides and herbicides. “Transforming our backyards into pollinator habitats has the ability to help reverse the decline in biodiversity that pesticides and exotic plants have created,” explains Lemay. “By connecting people across town lines and across our landscape, the Pollinator Pathway is an effective strategy for restoring the natural world around us.”

For more information on Pollinators in Connecticut and the efforts to protect them, go to the following links:
Connecticut’s Conservation Districts – for technical information and annual plant sale contact your local district. https://www.conservect.org/
Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES) https://portal.ct.gov/CAES/Publications/Publications/Pollinator-Information
Pollinator Pathways https://www.pollinator-pathway.org/
Connecticut Department of Transportation Pollinator Program https://www.ct.gov/dot/cwp/view.asp?A=1373&Q=608658

 

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2019 Farm and Food Guide

Click here for a pdf copy

CT NOFA’s Farm and Food Guide is about our nourishment, body and spirit, from Connecticut’s abundant and diverse farmland. Each spring, we pour over the entries, discovering new farms and revisiting the happy memories of old friends, barns, and fields we have fallen in love with over the years. The Farm and Food Guide is a reference, but it is also the story of our state, the story of our food, and the story of countless boots on the ground making daily contributions to the betterment of our communities. Enjoy getting to know our CT NOFA family of farmers, landscapers, members, and advocates. Cultivate your own commitment to an organic Connecticut by choosing locally grown food, visiting organic restaurants, supporting artisan food and beverage makers, and practicing organic land care. Your membership makes you a vital part of the protecting our local food-shed for future generations.

How to Use This Guide: Refer to the County listings and Business Member section to discover the rich food landscape in Connecticut. We recommend you also use this guide to:

1. Plan your food shopping by scanning for nearby farms, grocers, bakers, artisan producers, co-ops, delivery services and more.
2. Support those who support the farmers: visit restaurants serving locally sourced and organic foods.
3. Switch to a NOFA accredited landscape professional (AOLCP) for your home or commercial property landscape
4. Plan your spring and fall gardens with seed companies, nurseries, garden centers, farmers selling transplants, and businesses that will plant and maintain your organic garden.

Tips:

• Consider a CSA share from a farm near you.
• Plan your next agri-tourism adventure to a new farm, winery, brewery or distillery.
• Keep this guide and your reusable shopping bags in your car so you have them when you shop in new towns.
• If you lose CT NOFA’s Farm & Food Guide, check out our digital version online.

To request a copy, or box for your business, please email ctnofa@ctnofa.org with your order. The magazines are free of charge, but donations are greatly appreciated to help with the cost of printing.

 

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HB 7346, An Act Prohibiting the Use of Certain Organophosphates

We have until June 5th to get the bill through the House and Senate!
A bill to ban Chlorpyrifos is being considered by the CT state legislature. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed banning chlorpyrifos in 2015. Agency Experts have determined there is no safe way to use the chemical. However, former EPA Administrator, Scott Pruitt, refused to finalize the proposed ban on chlorpyrifos as one of his first formal acts in office. In response, individual state EPAs and legislatures are now enacting the ban to protect their citizens: Hawai’i, California, New York, and we hope Connecticut will be next. However, the Chemical companies and Governor Lamont’s Department of Agriculture are all pushing back and trying to kill this bill.
They are loud, but we must be louder. Chlorpyrifos is still used on golf courses and farms throughout Connecticut even though it is known to damage children’s brains, cause cancer, and kill our pollinators. Please call your State Representative and Governor Lamont  TODAY and urge them to ban Chlorpyrifos.
Remind them that they all promised to be a firewall against any unsafe environmental policy coming out of Washington DC. Our elected officials have a choice to make. Do they stand with the citizens of CT or do they stand with the industry and the current administration in Washington DC poisoning our environment? To learn more visit: https://earthjustice.org/features/what-you-need-to-know-about-chlorpyrifos
Then help us make our leadership do something about it in Hartford:
(1) House Democrats: 860-240-8500 House Republicans: 860-240-8700
(2) Call Ned Lamont’s office : 860-566-4840
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