It was a warm, sunny morning at Magnolia park–but this bustling, busy Saturday was anything but leisurely for a hard-working group of volunteers who spent their day creating a series of pollinator-friendly garden habitats. Pickaxes and shovels swung overheads with enormous momentum, tearing away at the firm adobe ground to make room for a plethora of flowers and trees. Heavy wheelbarrows full of compost and mulch were pushed with enthusiasm to provide essential nutrients to the dozens of plants. Sweaty, dirty hands worked quickly to fill the new soil in. Gasps of joy erupted when a hummingbird, followed by a Painted Lady butterfly, and finally, a honeybee visited the new plants within minutes of their arrival. This was the scene that unfolded last Saturday morning when a large group of volunteers, led by Rohnert Park Mayor Gina Belforte and the Rotary Club, came together to build a small sanctuary for bees, butterflies and birds. The Sonoma State Sustainability Club brought a large group of students to work alongside many other participants ranging from elementary and high schoolers to grown adults. 

Mayor Beleforte, who is now president of the local Rotary Club, says that her deep concerns for sustainability motivated her to spearhead the project. “I worry about the type of place I am leaving for people younger than me,” she says. Belforte believes that pollinator-friendly gardens should be incorporated into more public spaces. “As I drive through Rohnert Park I see all these grass areas, and I just think, these are kind of like wastelands,” she explains, “and knowing that we are seeing colony collapse of bees, that bird populations have declined and not been replenished, that Monarch Butterflies are facing extinction…you kind of have to be the change you want to see.”

Volunteers of all ages met at 9 a.m. to immediately begin the project, working tirelessly with few short breaks until around 2 p.m. Around seven different sections of garden were created, gracing the park’s tennis courts, pool, and two different parking lots. Different plants played varying roles–trees provide shelter for native songbirds, flowering plants provide nourishment for honeybees, and Milkweed serves as the only host plant on which the Monarch Butterfly can lay its eggs. In recent years pollinator conservation has been a priority for many environmentalists, as bees have seen massive declines in the global population. Volunteers seemed to beam ear to ear when the first honeybee arrived, and one Sonoma State student wore a “Save the Bees” shirt complete with several bee illustrations. It was clear that these tiny insects had found enormous support with this group of citizens. For a group of individuals clearly deeply concerned with overwhelming environmental problems, the small winged creature seemed to be a beacon of hope.

“I didn’t know I was going to hit such a chord with the community,” Belforte says, “everybody just really got behind it.” Belforte expressed her gratitude to the Sonoma State Sustainability Club by sending a photo of students smiling beside a newly planted tree in an email to SSU President Judy Sakaki, thanking the school for its participation. “It just makes me want to cry tears of joy,” Belforte says, “I mean, it’s just so great to see that people really do care.” After hours of effort, volunteers seemed content to simply observe and enjoy the final product– several barren patches of dirt transformed into a vibrant medley of native plants, a scene only made possible by their hard work.

“If you are our future,” Beleforte said in conclusion, “we are in tremendously blessed hands.”