3.3 acres of Mugwort before the solarization project
Plastic sheeting is applied
The mugowort is effectively baked
The New York Community Trust has awarded the Dominican Sisters of Hope a $100,000 grant to support pollinator conservation on the land at Mariandale. The grant award is a recognition of the congregation’s longstanding commitment to eco-justice and provides the opportunity for Mariandale to become part of a continuous pollinator corridor, connecting Crawbuckie Nature Preserve and the Croton Point Restoration Project.
The opportunity for the grant was created when New York Attorney General Letitia James secured $6.9 million dollars from Bayer and Monsanto for false advertising of Roundup Weedkillers. The settlement was over the herbicide’s adverse effect on pollinators.
The settlement money was allocated to support the New York State Pollinator Protection Plan, which seeks “to promote the health and recovery of pollinator populations in New York State in order to sustain the state’s robust agricultural economy and unparalleled natural resources.”
“Wild pollinators and managed bees, typically honeybees and bumblebees kept by beekeepers, are critically important to the health of New York’s environment…However, over the past several years, the loss of managed pollinator colonies in the state has exceeded 50%,” the plan reads.
The Pollinator Protection Fund, the administration of which was entrusted to the New York Community Trust, then distributed the monies to support New York organizations in sustaining healthy pollinator populations.
According to Robert Krebs, Director of Development, who wrote the grant application, “The size of the award is certainly impressive…but beyond the actual dollar amount, what is even a bigger victory for us as an organization is that we were chosen in a category where it would have been easy and safe to pick a big public project such as a university, a park, a zoo or even a botanical garden.”
“The bigger win is the acknowledgement that the Dominican Sisters of Hope, a fairly small congregation of women religious, was identified as one of the few organizations that could make the impact that this fund is designed to create,” Krebs said. “That speaks volumes about the work that has already been done, the commitment to land justice, eco-justice, the ministries of Sister Nancy Erts, Sister Bette Ann Jaster, and many others.”
In the application, the Dominican Sisters of Hope were able to demonstrate an already established protected wildlife corridor on the land, thanks to the conservation easement. The fact that Mariandale doesn’t use commercial or residential pesticides or herbicides also helped.
The grant will be used, first, to restore 5.5 acres of invasive mugwort to native vegetation. Over many years, acres of land at The Center at Mariandale have become overgrown with invasive vines and plants. The worst offender, mugwort, does not provide natural food or shelter for pollinating species. The first step to healing the land is to destroy the mugwort.
Our operations staff has installing an Earth-friendly system that will destroy the invasive plants using the natural resources of sun and water. The fields were wrapped and sealed under plastic sheeting. The sun and moisture from the ground bake and steam the plants, their seeds, and their roots. Because we are committed to earth-friendly practices, the plastic sheeting will be saved for future projects rather than being discarded in a landfill.
It’s a two-year project, and one of the requirements of the grant is that the sisters complement their stewardship of the land with preaching about eco-justice. We will also see the arrival of goats on the land, with the help of professionals who will assist with design and implementation.
“It seems to be a natural extension of continuing the sisters’ legacy and charism,” Krebs said. “The most significant part of receiving this grant is the recognition that the sisters don’t just talk the talk, they walk the walk.”
The New York Pollinator Conservation Fund was created by the Office of the New York State Attorney General, with monies obtained in a settlement with Bayer CropScience LP and Monsanto Company for the purpose of supporting projects that benefit pollinator species. We are grateful to the New York State Attorney General, the New York Pollinator Conservation Fund, and the New York Community Trust for making this ministry possible.