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    AF boosts environment with plant relocation

    AF boosts environment with plant relocation

    Photo By Staff Sgt. Parker Dubois | Volunteers helped relocate pollinator plants to the nature trail during a volunteer...... read more read more

    HAMPTON, VA, UNITED STATES

    01.12.2017

    Story by Airman 1st Class Parker Dubois  

    Joint Base Langley-Eustis

    Volunteers helped the 633rd Civil Engineer Squadron relocate pollinator plants from the Bethel Park Pollinator Garden to the nature trail on Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia, Jan. 6, 2017.

    Once an old dumping ground, the pollinator garden was installed at Bethel Park in 2014 in accordance with the National Public Lands Day project to help beautify the area. The garden plants provide food and habitat for animals such as hummingbirds, bees, butterflies and small mammals. However, due to the location of the garden, it has been underutilized by the public and overgrown with weeds.

    “Although most of these plants are super tough and will survive, they are not thriving,” said Alicia Garcia, 633rd CES natural resources program manager. “When they have to compete so aggressively with grasses, they’re not going to bloom as much and will not provide as much food in the form of pollen or fruit for wildlife.”

    Garcia believes the pollinators will flourish with the move to the nature trail and will be better kept by the volunteers who already care for the trail. The relocation of the pollinator plants along the walkways of the trail will increase the biodiversity within the environment, consequently providing adequate support to the ecosystem throughout the trail.

    “Pollinator plants provide a good attraction for birds,” said Retired U.S. Air Force Maj. Mark Sopko, Hampton Roads Bird Club member. “The plants bring the birds in with their berries and seeds, and the ecosystem and environment benefits from that interaction.”

    Garcia and Sopko encourage members of the Joint Base Langley-Eustis community to volunteer and help keep the land healthy for the environment and the wildlife.

    “People were really eager to plant plants and create a pollinator garden,” said Garcia. “But, the big need is long-term maintenance to help them survive, thrive, and really enhance the environment out there so we can see more wildlife on the trail.”

    To volunteer with the nature trail or for more information, contact the 633rd Civil Engineer Squadron natural resources program at 764-1090.

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    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 01.12.2017
    Date Posted: 01.12.2017 16:36
    Story ID: 220255
    Location: HAMPTON, VA, US

    Web Views: 75
    Downloads: 0

    PUBLIC DOMAIN