Pollinator Pathway
Saratoga Springs
Saratoga Springs, population just under 30,000, prides itself on being “The City in The Country”, a reflection of decades of planning to preserve the city’s Greenbelt, an area of rural zoning around a vibrant, walkable urban core. The city’s Open Space Advisory Committee developed an open space plan and a natural resources inventory as tools to guide environmental preservation in the coming decades.
Pollinator Projects
Photo Credit: Sustainable Saratoga
Photo Credit: Sustainable Saratoga
Photo Credit: Sustainable Saratoga
Sustainable Saratoga
Sustainable Saratoga is a grassroots, volunteer-led non-profit dedicated to promoting sustainable practices and protection of natural resources through education, advocacy and action for the benefit of current and future generations in the Saratoga Springs area. Our Pollinator and Native Plant Committee, founded in 2020, holds an annual native plant sale, Pollinator Palooza, the last weekend in May, started a Hellstrip Hero Project to create pollinator gardens on the pieces of land between the street and the sidewalk of homes in the area, and does outreach, consultation and education throughout the year.
For more information on our pollinator projects, contact pollinators@sustainablesaratoga.org
For general information on our work, contact info@sustainablesaratoga.org.
Photo Credit: Pitney Meadows Community Farm
Photo Credit: Pitney Meadows Community Farm
Photo Credit: Pitney Meadows Community Farm
Pitney Meadows Community Farm
Located within the Community Gardens at Pitney Meadows Community Farm in Saratoga Springs, Pauline’s Pollinator Habitat is a living demonstration of how native plants can support pollinators and strengthen local ecosystems. The garden provides food and shelter for bees, butterflies, moths, hummingbirds, and other wildlife while inspiring visitors to create pollinator-friendly habitat at home. The garden is dedicated to Pauline Nadeau and celebrates Joyce Carroll, former Community Gardens Director, and her commitment to protecting natural habitats. Explore the plant list to see what’s growing in Pauline’s Pollinator Habitat.
Learn more: https://www.pitneymeadowscommunityfarm.org/stewardship
Photo Credit: SoBro Conservancy
Photo Credit: SoBro Conservancy
Photo Credit: SoBro Conservancy
SoBro Triangle
The SoBro Triangle is a 0.2-acre green space at the gateway to South Broadway in Saratoga Springs. Once a vacant former gas station with compacted soil and invasive plants, the site is being transformed by SoBro Conservancy into a thriving, pollinator-friendly habitat. The garden features trees, flowering plants, shrubs, and groundcovers that provide food and shelter for pollinators, songbirds, and other wildlife while creating a welcoming green space for the community.
Learn more by visiting: https://sobroconservancy.org
Photo Credit: Pollinator Pathway
Photo Credit: Pollinator Pathway
Photo Credit: Pollinator Pathway
Saratoga Regional YMCA Pollinator Garden
The Saratoga Regional YMCA Pollinator Garden transforms a space in the middle of a parking lot into valuable habitat for bees, butterflies, caterpillars, and other wildlife. This volunteer-led, multi-year project continues to expand with new garden beds and plantings, creating a more environmentally friendly landscape at the YMCA. The garden has also supported monarch butterflies, with dozens of mature monarchs successfully released to begin their migration south.
If you are interested in volunteering in our pollinator garden email aaron.ditch@srymca.org
Community Partners
Our community partners in pollinator wellbeing and biodiversity include; SoBro Conservancy, which turned a small plot of land that used to be an abandoned gas station into a thriving green space; Wilton Wildlife, a 2400-acre preserve that is home to the endangered Karner blue butterfly; Pitney Meadows Community Farm, an organic farm with a community composting program, native perennial flower beds, community garden beds and over 35 acres in food production and regenerative cover cropping; Saratoga Plan, which preserves land in the region and maintains over two hundred miles of trails within Saratoga County; the YMCA pollinator garden, a volunteer-maintained pollinator garden designated as a monarch way station; the Skidmore College Community Garden; and Hudson Crossing, a public park in Schuylerville, New York created by local government and many volunteers as a result of a regional initiative to spark economic development and tourism on the Champlain Canal Corridor. Saratoga Springs and surrounding communities are also seeing a growing number of pollinator gardens in schools and on the grounds of local institutions.
Local events focused on pollinators or the environment and always needing volunteers include:
Tree Toga
Sustainability Fair
Pollinator Palooza
Wilton Wildlife Festival
Saratoga Farm Showcase
Cardboard Boat Race
Kid Bike Giveaway
Recycles Day
Paint Recycles Day
EV Car Show