Bee Line Buzzes on in 2024
Bee Line Buzzes on in 2024:
Bee Line is a Midway, Frogtown and Como effort to increase native pollinator habitat in our communities, especially the right-of-way along Pierce Butler Route. The investment has paid off. For the past 4 seasons, the endangered Rusty Patched Bumblebee has been sighted in our area.
Community grown plants!
What sets aside the Bee Line rewilding project is the fact that the native plants utilized are community-grown. In 2024, the process of together harvesting seeds, then processing seed, then sowing seeds, to tending the germinated seedlings all happens by community volunteers. This leads to lots of fall planting, also by our community.
Educational events called “Winter Sowing Parties” were instituted as a fun way to propagated our harvested seeds and grow our own Bee Line pollinator plants. 158 community members participated at 12 sowing events that sowed 258 containers! Dozens of different native pollinator plants were in this mix including: Round headed bush clover, New Jersey Tea, Compass plant, Late Figwort, Bushy Aster, Sneezeweed, Prairie Onion, Foxglove Penstemon, Little Bluestem, Northern Bedstraw, Joe Pye Weed, and many more!
Volunteer powered:
In total, 325 volunteer engagements supported Bee Line activities that yielded over 500 volunteer hours in 2024.
Over $12,000 in-kind value for the community’s volunteer time in the 2024 growing season.
Notably, 2024 marked the securing of repeat 2-year state funding from Lawn to Legumes to support native pollinator plantings and hands-on community greening events. The Pollinator Pathways grant is supporting a larger coalition of community efforts around Pierce Butler Route, where Bee Line efforts are situated. This coalition include 3 neighborhoods in St. Paul: Como, Frogtown and Hamline Midway, along with The MN SEED Project, and Xerces Society. Additionally, the Pierce Butler Meadow location was awarded a Saint Paul Bird Alliance migrant that will support an iNaturalist campaign, and trail cams along the Bee Line. Look for posts and information about these from the Hamline Midway Coalition.