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Thirty-five percent of food production, over $500 billion a year, relies on bees, butterflies and birds to pollinate. Lauren Simpson, with The University of Houston Law School, researches their conservation, and the landscapes supporting them and discusses why pollinators are making legal news.
"Citizens are increasingly creating pollinator wildscapes at their homes," Professor Simpson said. "These habitats contain the flora necessary to sustain these creatures. Pollinators are small; they need hundreds of small wildscape patches to cross our city. Houston's natural area ordinance supports certain wildscaping efforts by creating a defense against some city nuisance laws."
Simpson says there are things Houstonians can do to help pollinators. "They can plant home wildscapes and apply for a natural area permit. It should conform with deed restrictions and nuisance laws. Each wildscape can support pollinators, mitigate flooding's impact, and help Houston recapture some of its original natural beauty."
