‘Youth Pollinator Habitat’ program Saturday at cemetery

The City of Greencastle, Putnam County Soil and Water Conversation District, West Central Indiana Quail Forever, Putnam County Beekeepers and local volunteers, join forces to deliver a “Youth Pollinator Habitat” program Saturday at Forest Hill Cemetery and the public is invited.

The event is part of a city effort to create a 10-acre pollinator habitat at the cemetery.

Children and parents are invited to gather and register starting at 9 a.m. Saturday, April 21 at the north side of the cemetery at the covered bridge.

Activities include a rotation of educational stations that include beekeeping, wildflower planting, building a seed pot and habitat education. Children will get to plant wildflowers on site and in a peat pot, so they can start their own pollinator garden at home.

Local Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts troops will be participating.

The event is designed to increase awareness about declining grassland wildlife populations such as quail, grouse, whippoorwills and pollinating insects.

Opportunities will be provided to learn more about the importance of pollinator habitat and how families can establish pollinator habitat in their own backyards.

The pollinator plot being developed at Forest Hill Cemetery is intended to help restore critical habitat for monarch butterflies, honeybees and grassland songbirds, while serving as an outdoor classroom for current and future students. The new plot joins several others located around the community at schools, City Hall and the Putnam County Hospital. At the cemetery, over time, savings will accrue as a result of fewer acres to mow each week.

The City of Greencastle, the Forest Hill Cemetery Board and the staff of the cemetery said they greatly appreciate the interest and support of the community in this unique project.