ROCHESTER, N.Y. — As News10NBC celebrates 200 years of the Erie Canal, the focus is on its present and future. One current project is the creation of pollinator meadows.
Pollinator meadows and gardens are areas where grass and flowers are allowed to grow freely, replacing mowed grass with a more functional habitat for bees, insects, and birds.
Justine Heilner, the capital planning manager of the New York Canal Corporation, says the canal, that is hundreds of miles of land across the state, interrupts the ecosystems in many ways.
“It’s a big swath of land that could be doing more,” said Heilner. “It’s exciting to think about how something that was built for one purpose can also serve a lot of other purposes if we think creatively about how we manage it.”
If the current pollinator meadows prove successful, the Canal Authority plans to expand them along the length of the canal.
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