The Placerita Canyon Nature Center invited residents to a special free event, “Pollinators on Parade,” that was all about pollinators on Sunday afternoon.
Pollinators are anything that helps move pollen from one part of a flower to another. Insects and animals like bees, butterflies, birds, bats, and even some small mammals help this process, according to the National Park Service.
Dana Stangel, executive director of Teranga Ranch, gave the presentation about why pollinators are critical to the ecosystem, threats they face and ways to help them, such as avoiding the use of pesticides.
Stangel, who started Teranga Ranch, said she began her organization because she wanted to stay at home with her kids after she was a biology teacher.
Since Stangel had a small nonprofit about reptile rescue at the time, she felt it was important to give all the facts about animals.
“It was reptile rescue and then education surrounding reptiles as pets, basically, dissuading people, I mean by giving them all the facts. This is how long these animals live, this is what their dietary requirements are, this is how much it costs to see the vet, things that people don’t think about when they’re, you know, picking up cat litter and they see an iguana for $10,” Stangel said. “You know, like this was a big problem for me, and I like to, if I see a problem, I want to fix it, right?”
She added that she felt like there were just not enough places to learn about native wildlife and that’s why she started her organization.
Stangel also said the event is one of her favorite ways to provide this type of information because of the variety of people who attend.
“This is a free presentation at a local community center where people will be coming to go hiking or to participate in the interpretive exhibit or and maybe they heard there’s a speaker, so they would want to make a day of it, right, I don’t know,” Stangel said. “But I love, I think it’s great when there’s a group of people that has a variety of ages and understanding about whatever it is we’re talking about.”
One attendee, Olivia Taylor, is a local wildlife biologist who was excited to learn more about pollinators.
“I feel like my niche is really focused in bees. So, I just wanted to expand and learn more … So, I think it’s really important to get the word out about, you know, what we can do to better coexist with wildlife, without using any harm to the wildlife as well,” Taylor said. “I think one of the biggest problems is that people don’t want to replace their daily routine. They don’t want to be inconvenienced or things like that.”
Taylor added that she learned a lot about bats and certain butterfly species that she did not realize were in California.
One piece of advice Taylor wanted to give is that people need to get out to their local nature centers.
“I say that get out to your nature centers, you know, take the kids, take your loved ones. I’d say it’s definitely a family event that can be enjoyed and nature is definitely something that people need to talk about more,” Taylor said.
Denise Allen, docent-naturalist at the Nature Center, said she has been interested in butterflies all her life.
“I think they’re just so amazing how they go through the change of, you know, the metamorphosis and then they become the gorgeous butterfly that just floats on the wind. I just think it’s fascinating and such a miracle,” Allen said.
Allen said that she did not realize there were so many pollinators and was shocked to find out about them.
She added that there are a lot of ways that people can help pollinators.
“I think there’s a lot of knowledge about what we can do to help maintain pollinators and just what we can do is people to make sure that the world is working well and we’re saving the insects and things like that to make them, you know, become more pollinators,” Allen said.
