Latino Outdoors, Nature Conservancy partner to rebuild meadow ecosystem on pollinator walk

On preserved land in Cold Spring Harbor, a groundhog burrowed amid brown and brittle wildflowers Saturday afternoon. An onlooker pointed out a red-tailed hawk perched on bare branches.

This was "a pollinator dream walk," said Kevin Munroe, the Long Island Preserve Director for The Nature Conservancy, as he led about 20 New York City residents through the trails and meadows of Uplands Farm Sanctuary. The pollinators were asleep, he explained.

As partners, Latino Outdoors (LO) and The Nature Conservancy are working to rebuild the meadow ecosystem once prevalent throughout New York State, said Melodie Mendez, the New York and Northeast regional coordinator for Latino Outdoors.

"Habitat loss and development often means that those important ecosystems disappear," said Mendez, of the Bronx.

Previous LO efforts have included seeding and building bat boxes at the same sanctuary, which has an ADA-accessible trail suited to wheelchair users, Mendez said.

LO runs programming like this to bridge "the accessibility gap into green spaces," Mendez said. This means removing barriers to entry by offering translation services, eliminating entrance or parking fees for state parks or providing transportation.

On Saturday, the group checked on existing plantings — bergamot, whose citrusy scent and lavender-hued petals draw bees; milkweed, whose juice feeds caterpillars that become monarch butterflies; goldenrod, whose in-season color aligns with its name — and would rake new seed into the ground.

"The meadow deals with a lot of challenges, as all meadows do," said Munroe, 56. "Any time you're in a suburban or urban environment, you have all sorts of invasive exotic weed plants that will invade a meadow, and so it helps to periodically add native grasses and wildflowers."

Among Saturday's plantings were narrowleaf mountain mint, common milkweed, heath aster and wild bergamot, he said.

The meadow "is a buffet, a grocery store, for all these little mommy birds looking for food for their babies," Munroe said.

The nature walk reminded Michelle Wyke-Murray, 57, of walks to school through forested areas of Trinidad and Tobago.

"It conjured up a lot of memories of my childhood, because I grew up in the countryside," said Wyke-Murray, who lives in Brooklyn.

Glenn Viola, 46, and his daughter, Gabriela, 12, also planted flowers on a previous trip to the sanctuary.

"Last time I came, it was really nice because it was warmer weather," Gabriela said. "You could actually see some of the plants, like, very colorful. There was a lot of birds, a lot of bugs.

The Nature Conservancy cares for 51 preserves on Long Island, Munroe said. But even residents of apartments can cultivate balconies that attract wildlife, he said.

"You don't have to be taking care of thousands of acres of preserves like my colleagues and I are," Munroe said. "You can just be managing your half-acre yard and still have really exciting experiences with bats and birds and frogs and salamanders and butterflies and bumblebees coming to your property."