The Port TIMES RECORD Port Jefferson • Belle terre • Port Jefferson station • terrYVille
Volume 28, No. 33
July 16, 2015
$1.00
Stony Brook Film Festival 2015
also: ‘West Side Story’ at the SCPa and ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ at Theatre Three
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Project aims to save native pollinators Indigenous garden in the works next door Tests don’t add up
School officials won’t calculate algebra Regents into final grades
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BY Giselle BarkleY
They buzz and flutter and they are disappearing from Long Island’s environment. Pollinators are on the decline on the Island and nationwide. According to the National Wildlife Federation, native pollinators such as Monarch butterflies have decreased by more than 80 percent in the past two decades. Native bee populations, among other indigenous pollinator species, are also on the decline, which can put local farms at risk, as less pollinators mean less pollination. But Suffolk County Legislator Sarah Anker (D-Mount Sinai) hopes to help Long Island farmers combat the population decline with her new Educational Agriculture Support Initiative, which aims to increase the number of native plant species on Long Island, starting with the Heritage Park in Mount Sinai. Although Anker has teamed
up with Heritage Trust, Girl Scouts of Suffolk County, Long Island Native Plant Initiative, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County and the Suffolk County Soil and Water Conservation District to help create a pilot native plant species garden at Heritage Park, she said that it will take more than the individuals from these organizations to bring back local pollinator species. “I need people to participate,” she said. “I need people to understand that this is really important. If we don’t preserve [the environment] nobody else will.” According to Polly Weigand, executive director of the plant initiative and senior soil district technician for the conservation district, the team is trying to provide the pilot garden with various native plant species, including native grasses, which will attract and sustain pollinators throughout the year. While POLLINaTORS continued on page a9
Photos by giselle Barkley
Honeybees, at top, are efficient pollen collectors and honey producers and live in a hive. Monarch butterflies, above, fly from their wintering grounds in Mexico to long island, which serves as their breeding range during the summer.