Andrew Martins, Managing Editor
The lives of pollinating insects like monarch butterflies and honey bees may not last long, but one 17-year-old Girl Scout is hoping her Gold Award project will have a lasting impact on her community by protecting those buggy lives for future generations.
Brynne Briegs, a Hillsborough High School senior, will host an informational session at Bountiful Gardens this Sunday at 11 a.m. to highlight her pollinator garden and the importance of the insects throughout the area.
“When I started this, I had no idea what a pollinator was,” she said. “So I am informing the public about what they are, why they are so important to food production and what they can do to make a huge difference by doing one small thing – one small plant is enough to make a difference.”
Pollinating insects help plant life thrive by assisting in the spread of pollen from one plant to the other. The process helps fertilize a plant’s ovule, which ultimately becomes a seed. Though pollination can take place in a number of ways, many crops like cabbage, carrots, watermelon and apples rely on insect-based pollination.
During the presentation, Briegs will present a slideshow of the process she used to create her pollinator garden, located near the Hillsborough Township Police Department at the municipal building.
According to the teen, a number of pollinator-friendly plants like lavender, milkweed and catnip were sourced from various local garden centers. After recruiting some additional green thumbs from township Girl Scouts, as well as her experience as her mother’s “little garden helper” growing up, Briegs said she got down to work.
“I wanted to see a change near me – something that I can go back to,” she said.
The information session will also feature information from “The Two Cool Bee Dudes,” who helped Briegs during her project.
“This is kind of both to inform and to get people to actually do something about the problem,” she said. “I want to give them a chance to make a difference, too.”
Briegs said she initially planned to make comport pillows for breast cancer patients for her Gold Award project. However, when she spoke with township officials to get an idea for a project that would help the community at large, that’s when she learned of a need for a pollinator garden.
“[Pollinators] account for a major part of our food production, so without them we’d be kind of lost,” she said. “I was wondering why this wasn’t a bigger issue and it kind of frustrated me that I had no idea what this was about and I was sure that other people didn’t either.”
After completing more than 80 hours of work on her Gold Award project, Briegs said she plans on going to college after she graduates to study behavioral neuroscience.
