{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Radio Chatskill","title":"Bee On It: Delaware Highlands Conservancy Event Highlights Pollinator Decline and Conservation","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":510,"description":"The Delaware Highlands Conservancy is inviting the community to learn more about pollinators and their crucial role in the ecosystem at its upcoming event, Pollinator Pathway: Bee On It, on Saturday, August 23, at the Van Scott Nature Reserve in Beach Lake, PA.Rachel Morrow, education and volunteer coordinator for the Conservancy, explained her role and the organization’s mission:“My role as the education and volunteer coordinator, I create and put out education events, and I also bring in speakers that are professionals on that topic, to help educate not only landowners, which is our main focus, but also the general public. So, families, kids, middle school age, high school age.”The Conservancy serves four counties across the Upper Delaware River region: Delaware and Sullivan in New York, and Pike and Wayne in Pennsylvania. “In those four counties and a couple outliers but mostly those four counties we have helped conserve over 19,000 acres of land,” Morrow noted.Featured Speaker on PollinatorsThe August 23 event will feature Louise Washer, a Conservancy board member and founding member of the Pollinator Pathway initiative.“She helped found it in 2017 and it’s now a network of over 350 communities across 19 states and Canada,” Morrow said. “She serves as a facilitator of the pollinator pathway advocacy and pesticide committee, which has helped work to pass the Bees and Birds Protection Act in New York in 2023.”The event will begin with a lecture on pollinator decline and species such as bees and butterflies, followed by a guided walk through the Conservancy’s meadowlands. Participants will search for monarch butterfly caterpillars on the milkweed plants at the Van Scott Nature Reserve.Why Pollinators MatterPollinators are essential to both natural ecosystems and agriculture, Morrow emphasized.“Pollinators in general are really anything that helps pollinate flowers and plants. It’s a big component to agriculture—helping not only wildflowers thrive and keep alive...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/q7XXsnSXT_u4mZLCn3chUorwDmUD_kWiB272D6emB18/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS80N2Uy/OGY5MWUwZThkYTEw/NDVkZGM2ZGZkZDIw/ZjliOS5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}