It’s that time again! Spring has sprung, and color has returned to the landscape, bringing all the miniature life forms back onto the scene. In Oklahoma fashion, Spring seems to be the shortest season of all, where ditches along the road quickly turn from green to brown, and the summer heat almost requires a person to use oven mitts for the steering wheel on the drive home from work.
While the flowers are still in bloom, we thought it would be a good time to capture some images of the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center’s (MMAC) official Pollinator Habitat. Though the beauty of Spring flowers is typically upstaged by severe weather, it’s always good to "stop and smell the roses" before they run through their lifecycle.
Over eight years ago, to support the health of pollinator populations nationwide, all government agencies were directed by a Presidential Memorandum to increase and support pollinator habitat. So, the Office of Facility Management selected over 8 acres of land on the Center to plant a diverse, drought-tolerant mix of wildflowers as a food source for local and migrating pollinators. Having done so, the Center qualified as a U.S. Department of Transportation Pollinator Flagship.
Other federal flagship facilities include: Federal Highway Administration’s Turner-Fairbanks Highway Research Center in McClean, VA, and the John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (Volpe Center) in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Having a Pollinator Habitat on the Center positively affects the Operations and Maintenance costs by reducing the amount of land that needs mowing and trimming. The types of plants and wildflowers seeded on the Center are primarily native to this climate to minimize irrigation requirements and avoid conflict with the MMAC water conservation efforts.
Somewhere between 75%-95% of all flowering plants on the earth need help with pollination – they need pollinators. Pollinators provide pollination services to over 180,000 different plant species and more than 1200 crops. This means that one out of every three bites of food you eat is there because of pollinators. If we want to talk dollars and cents, pollinators add $217B to the global economy, and honey bees alone are responsible for between $1.2B - $5.4B in agricultural productivity in the United States. In addition to the food that we eat, pollinators support healthy ecosystems that clean the air, stabilize soils, and serve as protection from severe weather, while supporting other wildlife.
Although bees are the most prominent pollinators, there are many other insects that can bring pollen from one plant to another. There are also non-pollinating insects that feed upon other insects in this ecosystem, to maintain a natural balance of the insect population.
Though Spring is the best time to view the Aeronautical Center’s Pollinator Habitat, the Office of Facility Management has planted seeds that bloom throughout the summer. These late bloomers provide food for pollinators that migrate through the area later in the season. The next time you’re visiting the Aeronautical Center, take a walk along south Quesada Drive to observe the many beautiful flowers and miniature life forms that frequent the area.
