East Lyme ―East Lyme First Selectman Kevin Seery has issued a proclamation to bolster efforts by a local group to save the pollinators they say are key to a healthy ecosystem.

Pollinator Pathway East Lyme is a nonprofit organization focused on pollinator education and restoration. It started last summer with $700 in seed money to plant a 2-acre field near the Giving Garden on Church Lane.

The group is the local offshoot of a multi-state project focused on making the northeast corridor a safe space for insects and wildlife ranging from bees and butterflies to bats.

The proclamation puts in writing a commitment to “create, restore and enhance native plant habitats” through responsible pesticide use and measures like not raking leaves so the natural decomposition process can take place.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has warned in dire tones of the decline in the pollinator population. The agency said almost 80% of food-producing crops worldwide require pollination by animals. Losing those foods, such as apples, blueberries, cashews, grapefruit, mangoes, tomatoes and pumpkins, would have massive social and economic implications as healthy food options decrease and the prices of those that remain go up.

The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) said a drop in the population of honey bees, the most prolific pollinators, has resulted from factors including pesticide use, habitat loss and the escape of parasites from commercial honey bee operations into the wild.

Marjorie Meekhoff, founder and president of Pollinator Pathway East Lyme, said the Public Works Department has been receptive to the group’s focus on native plants since its inception. Director Joe Bragaw agreed last year to stop mowing the grass on the traffic circle on Industrial Park Road so the group could use it as an test station.

A core group of about a half dozen volunteers have pulled out nonnative grasses such as mugwort, introduced native plants, and let the grass grow at the center of the traffic circle. Meekhoff said native plants like milkweed and goldenrod have returned naturally, with more planted by the volunteers. They saw the first Monarch butterfly chrysalis on a milkweed plant this year, she said.

Pollinators rely on native plants as a source of food and a place to live.

More recently, Meekhoff said public works superintendent Justin Porter asked the group to design a native shrub border for the front of its building. She said there will be plants that bloom at different times to sustain different populations while keeping the ecosystem healthy year round.

“We’re going to plant some native holly. We’re going to plant some native St. John's wort. We’re going to plant native hydrangea. We’re going to plant honeysuckle; it's a lovely little bush,” she said.

At the new Public Safety Building, the group is in the first phase of a native plant garden in memory of Betty Murphy, an administrative assistant at the police department for more than 30 years and an active community volunteer. She died in 2017.

There are also plans to partner with York Correctional Institution and the DEEP by installing a meadow on several acres of the more than 600-acre facility, according to Meekhoff. She said the project is set to begin next year.

“I can see inmates learning from this, and we’ll be training them to learn what invasive plants are so they can help remove them,” she said. “A meadow is a huge responsibility.”

Seery, the first selectman, said the proclamation does not obligate the town or its staff members to do anything. Instead, the Pollinator Pathway East Lyme volunteers are taking on the work.

“I love to see the energy,” he said. “They have a plan and they want to fulfill it.”

e.regan@theday.com