Pollinator Lawn Takes Root on Senatobia Campus

by Dr. Andrew Dale, AVP of Community Relations

Senatobia, MS (06/10/2022) — SENATOBIA - Northwest is excited to join Mississippi State University, Auburn University, and the University of Georgia to participate in the USDA's refuge lawn pollinator habitat research project! This project will test the aesthetic impact of a campus lawn being modified from a traditional lawn maintenance space to a more pollinator-friendly environment in two years. The partnership for pollinator-friendly lawns addresses urgent issues affecting pollinator health and decline within the built environment. It will seek to answer critical questions regarding the value of common phorbs and weeds within southeastern lawns. Stakeholder training and best management practices will be developed to help better manage turfgrass systems to benefit pollinators.

Located on Thompson Street, the project will include an extensive planting of zinnias that borders a two-acre area of meadow that will allow native plants to flourish. By providing more habitat for pollinators, the project will seek to discover three things: How did it look to the public? How much did it affect the college's maintenance budget? How does the public feel about this project's efforts to help pollinators?

Pollinators have been threatened for years due to habitat loss and pesticide pollution. These insects, including honey bees, butterflies, and moths, are responsible for at least one of every three bites of food we eat. Over 90 varieties of fruits, vegetables, and essential crops like alfalfa and hay for our meat and dairy industries depend on pollinating insects for survival. In February, Len Lawhon, Northwest's horticulturalist and supervisor of grounds, was contacted by Jay McCurdy, Associate Professor & Turf Extension Specialist at MSU, about joining the project.

It is now known that urban development, large acreage turf management techniques, and four-season weed control applications affect the distribution of native blooming plants, weeds, and meadow flowers that feed emerging insects from winter hibernation and migration. Disruption of these important early-season food sources reduces pollinator population numbers to the detriment of early flowering crops resulting in reduced food production.

Large business parks, school campuses, recreation areas, multi-family housing complexes, and large traditional subdivisions cover their properties with parking lots, roads, driveways, and buildings. Many of these spaces use manicured landscape and turf areas as "green buffers" to create an aesthetically pleasing environment for the people who live, work, and play in those spaces. These green spaces require lots of maintenance, and weed and pest control are mandatory to keep these areas looking nice. Unfortunately for seasonal pollen-feeding insects, reducing multi-season flowers can leave an area void of these essential insects. If some of these green spaces were managed in a way to allow early spring and late fall wild and native flowers to bloom, these insects could again flourish.

Native blooming plants in lawn areas are, by any definitionweeds. These native blooming plants have a life cycle that can be viewed as "unkempt, ugly and neglected spaces" at some time during their life span. If standard mowing and four-season weed control are used on all turf and lawn areas, a monoculture of turf grasses will dominate, and they do not support pollinators. Also, if other native plants are allowed to dominate natural grasslands and meadows, sapling trees will overtake the space and turn these areas into offensive bramble.

Can turf managers use the required mowing and weed control program that both allow for early and late season blooming native weeds to thrive and feed pollinators while at the same time having a visually pleasing look to the public? The project's idea is to shift selective herbicides to suppress non-pollinator-friendly weeds in part of our lawn space while encouraging seasonal blooming native weeds and plants to thrive and grow. "We will use a modified mowing routine to promote growth and suppression through a mowing schedule that keeps bloom times in mind," said Lawhon. "We are also utilizing 'wildflower cultivation' sections to enhance the appeal of the 'meadow environment' through massive bloom cycles, allowing our natural meadow areas time to mature, reseed and recover for the next season." After the first two growing seasons, Northwest will conduct a poll to determine our refuge lawn's visual impact on our campus communities and examine internal cost data.

Visit www.refugelawn.com to learn more about the project and how you can protect pollinators at your home!

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Pictured are members of Northwest's grounds team and administration at the pollinator lawn on Thompson Street.

Northwest Mississippi Community College

Pollinator Lawn Takes Root on Senatobia Campus

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Northwest Mississippi Community College

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