Pollinator Pathways and The Green Corridor: Improving Biodiversity on Protected Land in our own Yard

Virtual presentation by Mary Ellen LeMay, Aspetuck Land Trust, Connecticut

With more than 16 states in various stages of launching Pollinator Pathways, this landowner outreach strategy has taken the region by storm in only 6 years. By planting natives, avoiding pesticides, and reducing lawn, this very scalable initiative has the potential to create healthy, connected habitats for pollinators and wildlife as they move across the landscape. The Aspetuck Land Trust Green Corridor is a broader scope of biodiversity, moving up the food chain beyond pollinators, with a focus that includes land protection and land stewardship in a 6 town study region. The Pollinator Pathway and Aspetuck Green Corridor have all the ingredients to help landowners restore biodiversity with simple action steps. As Pathways open up to Corridors, I’ll show you why our yards are stepping stones on the journey across our landscape.

Mel LeMay is the Landowner Engagement Director for the Aspetuck Land Trust (Westport, Fairfield, Weston, Easton CT), Pollinator Pathway Facilitator for the Hudson to Housatonic Regional Conservation Partnership, and also a member of the Connecticut Native Plants Working Group. She has a BS in Biology from Fairfield University, an MBA from Fordham University, and her Masters in Environmental Management from Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. She is the Former Trumbull Land Trust president and currently the Chair of the Trumbull Conservation Commission, a CT DEEP Certified Master Wildlife Conservationist, and on the Board of the Merritt Parkway Conservancy.

Vice Chair of the Metro COG Conservation Technical Advisory Committee.