PlantingSeeds and its flagship program, the B&B Highway (Bed and Breakfasts for Bees, Birds and Biodiversity), which received funding from the City of Melbourne for the 2022 Connected Communities Grant, allowed PlantingSeeds to work with three diverse school communities to create habitats to foster regenerative corridors of biodiversity, learnings and social connections.
Habitats for birds, insects and plants were established and practical learning educational sessions engaged and empowered the students to become biodiversity and citizen science champions. Translated resources were distributed to students and families catering to Arabic, Vietnamese and Chinese residents.
The program not only established special plantings of native and endemic plants, it also enabled students to learn about local biodiversity, and in particular, the important role of bees, birds and other pollinators and their connections to plant life.
PlantingSeeds’ B&B Highway program involves educational lessons and outdoor skills’ development so students, for example, can learn about local bees and other species and then go outside for a ‘Biodiversity Hunt’. At the City of Melbourne schools, learnings about native and endemic plants were followed by each student planting a tube stock plant and the containers would then be used to make homes for the native Blue-banded bee. Participants enjoyed mixing the clay and sand together to make special homes for these insects that seek natural ground – something that is unfortunately being replaced by concrete and asphalt in our cities.
Another highlight of the program was the teaching of citizen science skills. PlantingSeeds ran the inaugural national citizen science B&B BioBlitz last year with the support of the CSIRO’s Atlas of Living Australia. As a leader in this field, PlantingSeeds teaches both students and teachers the importance of citizen nature observations which can be photographed with Smart devices and uploaded to the Atlas of Living Australia to help scientists work out where species are living and inform regenerative projects. Citizen science is a fantastic way to get children outdoors, helps develop STEM skills, and supports the environment.
The B&B Highway program educators conducted interviews with 18 students from the three participating schools – Kensington Primary, North Melbourne Primary and University High – to determine changes in attitudes and learnings. Positive comments were expressed around their sense of empowerment, and hope towards biodiversity and the role they can play. Said Lila, aged 11 years: ‘I think personally I can make a difference to a certain extent but the more people that get involved, the more significant’. And from Eda, aged 15 years: ‘I feel like I have the ability to affect species but I am only one person but I have to hope others can help to form a positive impact. We are making a B&B Highway. It is only going to be effective if there are other B&Bs nearby for rest stops.’ Also from Eda: ‘I think what is giving me hope is that people are talking about biodiversity. Our generation is growing up and aware of it… if we know what is wrong we can do stuff to solve it.’
In the majority of cases, understandings of terms such as ‘biodiversity’, ‘pollinators’, and ‘citizen science’ changed from no knowledge at all to a basic and more expanded definition.
Biodiversity monitorings conducted before and after the plantings in the schools found a broader range of insect pollinators one year later – with more lady beetles, leafhoppers, pollen beetles and other insects in greater abundance.
The B&B Highway now numbers over 120 B&Bs in three States of Australia – Victoria, NSW and Queensland – but always incorporates local knowledge and planting of native and endemic species. In this implementation, students planted the threatened native matted flax-lily (Dianella amoena) sourced from VINC (the Victorian Indigenous Nurseries Co-operative). This beautiful purple and yellow plant attracts the native Blue-banded bee – so important for helping our biodiversity.
This Melbourne B&B Highway project was also very special as it catered to broader language and cultural groups with translated resources on citizen science, biodiversity, plantings and pollinators, and the psychological impacts of biodiversity loss and climate change distributed to school parent and carer communities.
PlantingSeeds’ Founder, Dr Judy Friedlander, said that this grant has been particularly valued due to it encouraging a flourishing of the B&B Highway program. Not only has it enabled the planting of endangered plants in the City of Melbourne to attract important native pollinators, it has also provided resources in different languages to inform a vast group of local residents.
‘What I love about PlantingSeeds’ B&B Highway program is that it provides people with ways to help biodiversity in their local area and in a broader sense – through linking ‘B&B’s’ to form regenerative corridors,’ Dr Friedlander says. ‘Research shows that people feel overwhelmed by the terrible loss of species and they feel concerned about the loss of bees, birds and other pollinators that are so important for our ecosystems and food supplies. This program shows locals what they can do to help through being a positive, practical and scalable initiative.’
Dr Friedlander encourages everyone to plant more native plants and think about the ‘three levels’ of habitat that are so important for biodiversity: ground covers, small shrubs and taller shrubs and trees. She suggests seeking out local plant nurseries and asking for plants that are endemic as well as native – that is, plants that come from your local area as well as a broader Australian context. Dr Friedlander is also a great believer in citizen science and encourages everyone to ‘get out there with your Smart phone or Smart device and start taking photos of native species – plants, insects and any other species – to upload to databases such as iNaturalist and the Atlas of Living Australia’. As she says, ‘there is no cost involved – only a cost to human and other species if we do not take urgent steps to help’.