Pollinators are creating a buzz in Cabot in the lead up to Town Meeting Day. This year, Cabot voters will consider officially becoming a "Pollinator Friendly Community."
We rely on pollinators to help grow food and flowers. But pollinators like bees, butterflies and bats are declining, and that could mean trouble for everyone.
A committee called the Greater Cabot Working Landscape Network has spent the last year educating locals about pollinator health. Now the group is asking residents to adopt pollinator-friendly practices, like cutting back on pesticides and mowing less often to allow wild plants to flower.
Committee co-chair Allison Gulka said Vermont's rural landscape can play an outsized role in keeping pollinators healthy.
"We have such a unique, mixed, varied landscape – lots of forests and rolling hills and pastures," she said. "The habitats that we have here are kind of unique for some pollinators."
Gulka said the nonbinding resolution won't be enforced and won't cost taxpayers any money, but she said the committee hopes residents will keep it in mind as they make choices on their own properties.
"There are a number of wild bumblebees that are endangered in Vermont," Gulka said, "and, you know, anything that we can do to help those populations on a local level will be useful, I think."
