The Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains (RCDSMM) is holding a Pollinator Party from 4-6 p.m. on April 5 to celebrate Native Plant Week early (April 13-20).
All ages are welcome to tour the native plant garden, learn how to help pollinators, and go home with milkweed plants (the monarch caterpillar’s host plant) to beautify your yard twice: once when you plant the milkweed, and again when the butterflies come to lay their eggs. Then, again, when the monarchs hatch! That’s thrice!
Monarchs and other pollinators are in trouble!
Remember how your windshield used to be covered with bugs after a drive, especially a long drive on a humid night? And now, not so much? Entomologists call this the “windshield phenomenon.” Western monarchs—and other pollinators—are in serious decline. In 2018, the Western monarch Thanksgiving count performed by the Xerces Society indicated a decline of as much as 99 percent compared to 1980s (Pollinator Partnership and Xerces Society are two good organizations to check out for more information about the pollinator crisis!).
There are small steps ordinary citizens can take to turn the tide for monarchs and other pollinators. During the Pollinator Party, everyone will have a chance to plant native milkweed and take a milkweed plant home for their own garden. RCD staff will be available to help with the planting and discuss monarch natural history, pollinators, and native plants.
Tours of RCD’s native plant garden will also be available at 5 and 5:30 p.m. A $5 donation to cover materials and supplies is requested. This is a great opportunity to engage the younger folk with nature and gardening while also helping our local wildlife.
For questions about the Pollinator Party, contact Tanessa Hartwig, thartwig@rcdsmm.org; (818) 597-8627, ext. 104.
The RCD is located at 540 South Topanga Canyon Blvd., Topanga, CA 90290.
The Resource Conservation District is a partially funded public agency that promotes land stewardship and resource conservation in the Santa Monica Mountains. We accomplish our mission through ecological research, conservation planning and design, habitat restoration, and environmental education.
Learn more at www.rcdsmm.org.
By Tanessa Hartwig