Unexpected Challenges and Sharing Information

​Brian Zeidner, Director of Member Services, Claverack Rural Electric Cooperative
This is the seventh and last of a series of articles that inform the public of an ambitious project that will benefit our local communities in many ways. Claverack Rural Electric Cooperative has undertaken a lawn-to-native pollinator habitat transition project on the grounds of their headquarters building, located along Route 6 in Wysox, Pennsylvania. Expected benefits include improved environmental stewardship, evaluating new right-of-way management strategies, educational opportunities for local students and groups, and reduced maintenance costs. Claverack is a rural electric cooperative that is owned by the members we serve.  
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Over the past couple of months, we have shared a lot of information about our native pollinator habitat project. We’ve discussed our planning process and partners, defined what pollinators do, invited you to share and use the site, and discussed how we maintain our rights-of-way. 

As we wrap up this series of articles, I wanted to share some lessons I learned along the way. Although it has been an exciting project, we have had some challenges.

1. Quality costs money. Like many endeavors, doing a quality job is expensive. Purchasing seed and producing our large signs were the biggest costs for our project. Thankfully, we had a grant from our cooperative community educational fund to work with and several supporting partners who provided donations, no-cost equipment use, or donated their services.
   
2. Plans change. We found we had to be willing to modify the project to meet newly discovered requirements. Our project signage is a good example. As we worked through design and layout, we discovered we needed to stay outside the Penn Dot right-of-way and comply with the 1965 Highway Beautification Act. 
3. Perceptions are powerful. Not everyone has the same understanding of environmental stewardship. To some, a green lawn is more appealing than a field of native plants and wildflowers designed to support pollinators. Balancing what we implemented, being reasonable, and having open communications about the project helped us share our vision for improving our community.

One of the ways we share information and promote our project is with a pollinator program webpage on our Claverack website, where you can learn all about our project. Our on-site landing signs will have a scannable QR code that takes your right to our project webpage, www.claverack.com/native-pollinator-habitat-project.

On this page, we describe our program and have photos of the project. As we continue to develop the site, we will post updates and additional photos and videos. The published articles about the project are also available on this webpage.

We hope you have enjoyed learning about our lawn-to-native pollinator habitat transition project and next spring, when the plants and flowers bloom, and the pollinators stop by for a visit, we hope you do too!

Brian Zeidner and his wife, Pat, own and operate a 42-acre farm in Bradford County. Brian also works as the Member Service Director for Claverack Rural Electric Cooperative, serves as a Bradford County Conservation District Director, is a Pennsylvania Forest Steward and is a United States Air Force veteran.
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The Bradford County Conservation District is committed to helping people manage resources wisely.  You can visit the Bradford County Conservation District at 200 Lake Rd in Wysox across from the Wysox Fire Hall. Contact us at (570) 485-3144 or visit our web page at www.bccdpa.com.