Collingwood Pollinator Protection Plan

What is a Pollinator Plan?

The Town of Collingwood is planning to create a municipal pollinator protection Plan. A pollinator protection plan is a set of guiding principles and explicit actions that a municipality can take to protect pollinators in the area. Pollinators include many diverse insect and animal groups, including bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, and more, and they play a critical role in pollinating our crops and wild flowering plants.

How Pollinator Protection and the Town’s climate change vision are related:

The Town of Collingwood Council declared a Climate Crisis in October 2019 to deepen the Town’s commitment to protecting the economy, community, and ecosystems. It is widely understood that climate change is affecting pollinator populations and migration patterns globally. Less discussed are the benefits that pollinators provide in the fight against climate change. Pollinators are essential in ensuring the continuation of plant populations that sequester carbon from the atmosphere into the woody stems, roots, and bulbs. Enhanced tree and native species planting will only be successful with pollinators to ensure plants have the greatest chance for successful reproduction.

Background Information:

On January 1, 2008, the Town of Collingwood took the proactive step of passing a bylaw banning widespread pesticide use on Municipal property. This was prior to the establishment of Provincial laws, or the groundswell movement related to the preservation of ecology and habitats. The Town now follows the Provincial Pesticides Act and standards, which also includes herbicide use. A Hazardous Vegetation Management Plan outlines procedures for the Town managing any perilous, detrimental, nuisance and invasive vegetation on public lands.

The community has continued to show increasing interested in preserving the environment, culminating with the declaration of a climate crisis by Town Council in October of 2019. Following this, and after much work and effort by a local advocacy group known as Pollinate Collingwood, the Town was named as a Bee City by Bee City Canada.

Pollinate Collingwood is a volunteer-led initiative with a dual mission 1) to support and 2) raise awareness of Ontario’s native pollinators. Their projects and initiatives are aimed at focusing the collective energy and resources of community members to improve native habitats within the Town of Collingwood and broader region, and they have been instrumental in elevating the conversation around Pollinator Protection. Bringing more native plants to our landscapes, less pesticides and education to our youth, residents, businesses, and organizations helps bees and other native pollinators source their nutrition and provide their habitat. This supports sustainable food systems, limits impact on climate change and creates a community that works together.

As part of the commitment to become a Bee City, the Town of Collingwood is seeking to develop a Pollinator Protection Plan to ensure our policies and procedures are aligned with the best interests of pollinators and their habitats.

Funding from Julie Di Lorenzo, who has committed $500,000 to Collingwood’s Forest canopy, is making the development of this Pollinator Protection Plan possible.

On February 21st, 2024 Council adopted the Collingwood Pollinator Protection Plan.