Reliable, Affordable and Sustainable Maintain the Environmental Integrity
Electric cooperatives are committed to providing power that is reliable, affordable and generated in a sustainable manner. Part of that commitment includes ensuring we maintain the environmental integrity of the communities where we work and, if possible, leave them even better than they were found.
This is why Nobles Electric Cooperative, in partnership with Great River Energy, is contributing to the nation-wide effort to restore pollinator habitat right in our own backyard. Great River Energy launched its Pollinator Strong effort in 2023, doubling its commitment to pollinator-friendly habitat restoration. Our project is the first collaboration between Great River Energy and one of its member-owner cooperatives as part of the Pollinator Strong initiative.
Importance of Pollinators
Pollinators — including bees, butterflies, hummingbirds and bats — assist plants in reproduction by transferring pollen. This allows those plants to produce berries, nuts and other foods that are important to the survival of many wildlife species as well as the human food supply.
The ecological service provided by pollinators is necessary for the reproduction of more than 85% of the world’s flowering plants — including more than two-thirds of the world’s crop species.
Importance of Restoring Native Pollinator Habitat
Native habitat refers to the plants, grasses and trees that existed in an area before they were replaced with roadways, lawns, crops and non-native species, or were degraded for other reasons.
Pollinator habitat more specifically refers to a habitat with a greater concentration of the plants and flowers that pollinators need in order to eat, live and do their work.
Our Pollinator Work
Many recent reports show a steady decline in the pollinator population, largely due in part to the loss of habitat needed to survive, which is why Nobles Electric Cooperative is stepping up to contribute to habitat restoration.
We have been working with our wholesale power provider, Great River Energy, to bring a plot of habitat back to life for pollinators in our service territory.
We chose to locate the 1.5-acre pollinator site on the same land that holds our 20-kilowatt solar array at our Worthington headquarters. By incorporating the habitat into a location where our members, board, employees and community gather, our hope is to bring more visibility to the need to increase pollinator populations.
The growing process began in summer of 2023 when Minnesota Native Landscape (MNL), an ecological restoration and native species landscaping company, planted seeds on the site. The seed mix included a vast variety of species appropriate for conditions in the Midwest.
Our prairie will serve as a stopover location for pollinators during migrations, providing additional food and habitat for breeding. Combined with the efforts of Great River Energy and others, including many solar energy projects, these small habitats will begin to help pollinator populations.
Beyond the environmental benefits, our native planting will offer natural beauty to our property that will require much less time, work and resources to maintain than non-native landscaping. However, beauty takes time — two to three years approximately before it becomes fully established.
We believe the end result will be worth the wait, both for us to enjoy the sight of the plantings and for the pollinators to continue doing their important work.
Frequently Asked Questions
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