This is postwas writtenby ESLT’sEducation Coordinator & AmeriCorps Member, Catherine Tao.

Margy Marshall's beautiful certified Native Pollinator Garden!

Pollinator Project participant Margy Marshall of Bishop, CA recently created this beautiful Certified Pollinator Garden in her yard.

From wildflowers to working farms, much of our region’s natural treasures rely on bees, butterflies, and other pollinators in order to live and thrive. But their numbers are in decline: impacted by pathogens, parasites, pesticides, and the loss of open spaces, pollinators are disappearing from our landscape. Their disappearance can be felt everywhere—from our backyards to our dinner plates.

Do you want to bring bees, hummingbirds, and other pollinators to your garden, but don’t know where to start? Eastern Sierra Land Trust is ready to help! We’regearing up for our third year of our Eastside Pollinator Garden Project, and we hope you’ll join us to help keep the Eastside abloom.

To kick off the growing season and provide more information on how to create your very own native plant and pollinator garden, we’re hosting a Pollinator Workshop on Saturday, April 16th from 10am to 12pm at Inyo Council of the Arts (137 S. Main St. in Bishop). If you’d like to join us, please RSVPto or (760) 873-4554. We hope to see you there!

certification_plaque_eslt_garden

Ready to get your garden going? Once your garden is certified as pollinator habitat, we’ll send you a plaque just like this one to post nearby.

With ourEastside Pollinator Garden Project, Eastern Sierra Land Trust is building safe havens for pollinators and educating our community about the important role they play. Since the Pollinator Project began in 2014, we have helped certify 54 gardensin Inyo and Mono Counties.

This year, ESLT aims to certify 20-25 additional gardens and community spaces as pollinator-friendly habitat. With support from US Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) and California Native Plant Society (CNPS), we will be providing guidance, information, and resources to anyone who is ready to create their own Eastern Sierra pollinator haven.Once you’ve committed to certification and your garden is ready to go, we’ll give you a voucher for approximately $125 worth of native plant purchases.

Want to learn more? Join us at our free pollinator workshop, and learn from local experts—including Katie Quinlan of CNPS, Michelle Hunt of USFWS, Julie Fontaine of Trestles Environmental Corporation, and Steve Blair of Chalfant Big Trees Farm &Feed—about native plants, pollinators,plant nutrition, irrigation techniques, and everything else you will need to get started this spring.

Not able to make it on April 16th? You can still sign up for the Eastside Pollinator Garden Project: join ESLT at our annual GardenFest, to be held at our office in Bishop (250 N. Fowler St.) on April 30 to get involved!

For questions about the Eastside Pollinator Garden Project or the Pollinator Workshop, please contact me, ESLT Education Coordinator/AmeriCorps Member Catherine Tao, at or (760) 873-4554. Hope to see you on April 16th!