What we've learned from the Pollinator Hotel Project

Building the pollinator hotel and hosting a community build event taught us that a project doesn’t have to be large and elaborate to make an impact.  We chose to work on a project that was relatively small in scale, yet it will continue to have an impact on the Quest community as well as the greater Squamish community in three main ways: 

1. The pollinator hotel will provide a safe nesting habitat for pollinators
2. This blog and the pollinator hotel itself will continue to educate students and community members about the importance of pollinators in our lives and our reliance on nature
3. The community build day will serve as an example of a successful community collaboration event that fostered a sense of community among Quest students and other Squamish residents

From hosting the community build event, we were reminded that social media is a powerful tool for engaging the public. Using Facebook and this blog, we were able to reach audiences from Quest and Squamish. Many community members were receptive to the idea of helping pollinators, which gives us hope for the creation of similar projects in Squamish. We learned that it is important to have food and hot drinks for volunteers, especially when it is cold and rainy! Local businesses were enthusiastic about donating coffee and donuts for our cause which we are very thankful for!

Recommendations for other pollinator hotels
For anyone interested in building a pollinator hotel, we hope that you will go ahead and do it!  Pollinator hotels come in all shapes and sizes and can be built using relatively cheap (or even free) materials!  Before building your own pollinator hotel, we would suggest spending some extra time collecting recycled building materials and natural materials to fill the hotel with. Sourcing recycled and natural materials often takes longer that buying new materials from the store, but it is more environmentally friendly. Reaching out to local businesses and friends for materials would be an easy way to do this, and also cultivates relationships. It is also a good way to get your community into a more eco-conscious mindset.

Moving forward
We could see other successful pollinator hotels around Squamish for education and increased pollination in gardens and wild spaces. Pollinator hotels could be located at places such as the Adventure Centre, the Cheakamus Centre Outdoor School, Squamish Climate Action Network Community Gardens, Rose Garden Park, the Squamish Estuary, Brohm Lake Park, and local elementary schools. Because pollinator hotels very in size, material, and cost, they are relatively easy to tailor to your own backyard, school, or garden.  We hope that our pollinator hotel will inspire Squamish community members to install their own pollinator hotels to support local pollinators.  


Hopefully, in the future, this project will serve as an inspiration and lead to the creation of other pollinator projects, like pollinator gardens and citizen pollinator monitoring systems. 


We would love to see Squamish become a pollinator paradise!