Morris Township Awarded Grant For New Garden In Community Park

MORRIS TOWNSHIP, NJ — A $1,000 grant has been awarded to the Morris Township Environmental Commission to plant a demonstration pollinator garden in Butterworth Park. The project is funded by the Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions (ANJEC) to demonstrate the viability of pollinator gardens on public and private land.

The proposed Butterworth Park Pollinator Garden will be a small plot of New Jersey native wildflowers that will provide a habitat for bees, butterflies and other wildlife.

The 200-square-foot site will be prepared in the fall of 2022, with planting scheduled for the spring of 2023. The garden will be monitored and maintained by a group of neighborhood garden stewards, according to officials.

Once established, the Butterworth Park Pollinator Garden will provide the community with the following benefits:

• Creates habitat for insect pollinators by providing food and shelter
• Provides education about biodiversity to people of all ages
• Builds a community of native plant advocates
• Demonstrates feasibility of replacing grass lawns with native plants
• Visually enhances the park by providing botanical color and variety
• Reduces greenhouse emissions and noise from township mowers
• Improves stormwater mitigation

Pollinator gardens use native prairie plants to provide pollen to pollinating insects such as bees, as many of Morris Township's urban and suburban improvements eliminate potential pollen sources.

Morris Township's Environmental Commission serves as a local government advisory body. The commission, made up of resident volunteers appointed by the mayor, works to protect local natural resources.