The Ashfield Agricultural Commission plans on planting a pollinator garden this spring in honor of beloved late resident Nancy Garvin.

“She was a real advocate for bees. She was a beekeeper and always looking out for pollinators,” said Barbara Miller, chair of the Agricultural Commission.

The commission has received numerous donations and a $500 grant to get the project underway. The garden is still in the planning stages but will be ready for planting this spring.

The commission first started doing work with pollinators last summer at the 2022 Annual Town Meeting, when voters passed an article aligning Ashfield with a state initiative aimed at promoting and preserving pollinators.

The nonbinding resolution was a “generic adoption of being pollinator-friendly,” Miller explained. The resolution provided information for people who are interested in advocating for pollinators.

The Agricultural Commission has now decided to take its pollinator-friendly initiative one step further by planting a garden to be used as an example for the town.

Commission members found space in the newly landscaped town Transfer Station to plant the garden. They plan on having labor and a rototiller donated to start the process and also have been promised plants, seeds and compost soil from local residents. These donations came in after members wrote about their project in the Ashfield News. The initial planting will include a mixture of plants and seeds.

“We will see what grows from there,” Miller said.

Along with the garden, the commission plans on making a sign and kiosk with information about pollinator gardens and Garvin. Miller said the commission stills needs to work out the details of the kiosk, but she said it could make a good scout project if people are interested in partnering with the commission.

The pollinator garden will not only be helpful for the pollinators of the area but will be used as a teaching tool for residents of Ashfield to model what a pollinator garden could look like.

Pollinator gardens are planted to have different species of planted flowers bloom throughout the seasons. Miller explained people looking to grow certain crops generally will plant gardens that bloom to help with the pollination of their crops. In contrast, pollinator gardens are designed to help pollinators by supplying consistent pollen for the pollinators.

Public interest grew in pollinators as news came out about colony collapse disorder affecting honey bees in the last couple of decades, Miller explained. Colony collapse disorder is a phenomenon that occurs when worker bees begin to disappear in large numbers from the hive.

“Native pollinators are more than honey bees,” Miller explained.

Native pollinators include bees, butterflies, moths, flies, beetles, wasps, bats and hummingbirds, which are integral to the healthy functioning of ecosystems by advancing plant life cycles. As more native plants are pollinated and grow, ecosystems become more resilient to climate change, sequester carbon more efficiently and provide habitats for animals.

Ashfield is also part of a group of five towns that received a $50,500 state grant for putting together a pollinator habitat corridor action plan and toolkit.

Administered by the Franklin Regional Council of Governments (FRCOG), the money will provide technical assistance to review land use regulations and potential revisions for pollinator habitats, as well as to expand the Regional Pollinator Habitat Corridor Implementation Toolkit, which provides guidelines and advice for towns looking to create more pollinator-friendly bylaws. The grant comes through the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs’ Land Use Planning Assistance Grant Program.

This grant will help fund a different project separate from the pollinator garden at the Transfer Station.

“We are starting to put the meat on the bones,” Miller said. “We will get it planted this spring, one way or another.”

Bella Levavi can be reached at 413-930-4579 or blevavi@recorder.com.

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