Letters to the editorCelebrate Earth Day

Life as we know it could not survive without pollinators, those insects and birds that carry pollen from one blossom to another. And yet many pollinating species are in decline, especially the honey bee. Honey bees are not just for making honey! They are busy workers, pollinating orchards and crops around the globe, but they are not native to the Americas.

The wild mason bee is a wood-nesting wild bee native to the Pacific Northwest and western Montana that is an even more efficient pollinator than the honey bee. Mason bees are gentle, non-aggressive, gregarious, busy and quite productive. We can encourage these, and other native pollinators to thrive in our yards and gardens by providing and protecting proper food and shelter.

Celebrate Earth Day with Bigfork's Essential Stuff Project (ESP); come to our gathering: Pollinators & their Habitat by Tom Lawrence, John Holbrook and Tamus Gannonat 7 p.m. on Wednesday, April 22, at Clementines in Bigfork (265 Bridge St). Free and open to the public, but donations are welcome. Desserts available for purchase. Contact Edd Blackler (edd@essentialstuff.org, 837-5196), Catherine Haug (cat@essentialstuff.org) for more information.

Catherine Haug

Bigfork