Buffalo Harbor State Park
Gateway
Pollinator Conservation Area
Location: 111 Fuhrmann Blvd, Buffalo NY 14203
|
Google Earth Image, October 2018
|
|
|
The Pollinator Conservation Association, working with the Niagara River Greenway, the Greenway Ecological Steering Committee, and NY State Parks, is designing and installing a biodiverse pollinator conservation area at the entryway to the Buffalo Harbor State Park. This area will feature a number of native plants associated with the general habitat and known pollinators of the Buffalo Outer Harbor. In addition we are adding sand to the feature to create more coastal habitat that we once found here. This is both an ecological strategy to restore what once was found in this area, and an aesthetic strategy to bring a coastal feeling to Outer Harbor and Lake Erie shoreline. In many ways we are using Presque Isle in Erie, Pennsylvania as a model for this conservation project. This whole of the Buffalo Outer Harbor is important bird and pollinator habitat. We are creating year-round habitat that includes seasonal flowering plants, foraging resources, and nesting sites. The PCA is working with partners including government agencies, conservation organizations, native plant initiatives, and ecological advocates to make sure that it not only remains viable for pollinators and birds, but will improve and be regenerative. This is a climate resiliency project. We are very proud to introduce this site as an example of conservation strategies for the public lands of Buffalo's Outer Harbor.
|
|
One of the target pollinator species at this site is the Monarch Butterfly. For more information on Monarch Butterflies visit our Monarch Page: CLICK HERE
Images 2018-2019
Native plant foraging resources
Establishing a beach like trail through the habitat
|
Edge habitat for nesting and foraging native bees
by late 2019 dune plants had begun to sprout and beetles and other beneficial insects were moving in
|
nesting and foraging habitat
|
Native Plants installed on the site Autumn 2018.
• Allium cernuum 50 plugs • Antennaria plantaginifolia 128 plugs • Asclepias syriaca 150 plugs • Asclepias tuberosa 288 plugs • Asclepias tuberosa 30 bare root, locally grown from seed • Asclepias tuberosa 15 potted, locally grown from seed • Asclepias verticillata 150 plugs • Eupatorium hyssopifolium 100 plugs • Eurybia spectablilis 50 plugs • Oenothera fruticosa 200 plugs • Penstemon hirsutus 15 potted, locally grown from seed • Pycnanthemum incanum 100 plugs • Solidago bicolor 50 plugs • Solidago juncea 50 plugs • Solidago odora 50 plugs • Solidago rigida 50 plugs • Solidago sempervirens 100 plugs • Symphyotrichum laevis 50 plugs • Symphyotrichum oblongifolius 50 plugs Grasses • Andropogon virginicus 216 plugs • Bouteloua curtipendula 450 plugs • Danthonia spicata 400 plugs • Eragrostis spectabilis 250 plugs • Panicum virgatum 150 plugs • Sporobolus heterolepis 216 plugs |
Monarch Butterfly Caterpillar July 2019
Beach grass establishment on sand area, Winter 2020 (February 2020)
We will soon be designing a citizen science initiative so that you can report what kinds of insects, birds, and pollinators that you find at this site.
|
Halloween Pennant Dragon Fly, July 2019
|
Native Butterfly Species Found on Buffalo's Outer Harbor (Partial list)Mourning Cloak
Red Admiral Red-spotted Purple White Admiral Viceroy Painted Lady American Painted Lady Great Spangled Fritillary Pearl Crescent Baltimore Question Mark Grey Comma Eastern Tailed Blue Spring Azure Monarch Pearly Eye Eyed Brown Little Wood Satyr Silver Spotted Skipper Least Skipper European Skipper Alfalfa Clouded Sulfer Common Sulfer Cabbage Pipevine Swallowtail Tiger Swallowtail Eastern Black Swallowtail Spicebush Swallowtail Zebra Swallowtail |
Native Bee Species Found on Buffalo's Outer Harbor (Partial list)Agapostemon virescens (common)
Anthidium manicatum (common) Apis mellifera (common) Augochlorella aurta (common) Bombus fervidus (uncommon) Bombus griseocollis (common) Bombus impatiens (common) Coelioxys rufitarsis (common) Halictus ligatus (unusual) Lasioglossum leucocomum (common) Lasioglossum pilosum (common) Lasioglossum vierecki (common) Megachile latimanus (common) Melissodes desponsus (common) Xylocopa virginica (common) 
|