OrilliaMatters welcomes letters to the editor at [email protected] or via our website. Please include your daytime phone number and address (for verification of authorship, not publication). The following letter is in response to a letter regarding the city’s lawn maintenance rules, published Aug. 27.
I would like to support the letter sent by Stan Mathewson, president, Sustainable Orillia, in relation to the predicament faced by Stacie Theis and her diverse ecosystem.
In 2019 Orillia’s previous council obtained the Bee City designation.
I was curious what that entailed, so asked online, “How do you obtain a Bee City designation?” Here is what I discovered:
“… cities, campuses, businesses and other organizations can apply for a Bee City designation through the Bee City, Bee City Campus and Bee City Partner programs. An annual fee applies.
All program participants must commit to:
- Creating, maintaining and/or improving pollinator habitat.
- Educating their community, employees and/or customers about the importance of pollinators.
- Celebrating pollinators during National Pollinator Week or at other times.
Visit our City, School, Campus or Partner program pages for more information.”
How is the current council going to honour those commitments?
A first step in that direction might be to adapt or revise the Chapter 834 guidelines that currently limit the height of plants, and only allow mowed lawns. With support from council, city staff might check with other municipalities like Barrie, County of Simcoe and Peterborough, who have the Bee City designation, to inquire how they have acted on these three commitments.
How might our city become more welcoming to citizens who adopt pollinator gardens and plant native species that attract bees and other pollinator species?
Judy Archer
Orillia
