‘Pollinator Jack’ transforms former Preston Street dump into pollinator sanctuary

ARTHUR – Jack Benham seemingly knew the former Preston Street dump would become something more.

He told Wellington County waste services manager Das Soligo as much eight years ago over lunch.

Closed many decades ago, the county took over the closed Arthur landfill site at the turn of the century.

“It was basically a large lawn with some spruce trees,” Soligo recalled.

“He told me: ‘This site’s going to be a park one day.’”

Soligo admits to pooh-poohing the idea. But Benham never let up.

On May 22, a small gathering of county officials and staff recognized Benham, joined by his family, for the countless hours he spent transforming the landfill site into a pollinator habitat over the past eight years.

“I get the sense that Jack is an ‘ask for forgiveness, not permission’ type of fellow,” Soligo said.

He’s also a big-picture type.

Benham has spent much of his 92 years planting trees he’ll never see flourish.

Weeks before the ceremony, he planted another 300 in the area now bearing his name: the Jack Benham Pollinator Sanctuary.

“He just can’t wait for spring,” his son, John Benham, told the Advertiser. “It’s all he does.”

The elder Benham is also responsible for cutting the nearby river trail many moons ago.

Though Benham is still on his feet, he’s partial to a compact Massey tractor these days. He makes the two-hour round-trip from Damascus, using an auger to dig holes for planting trees at the sanctuary.

There are native plants including redbud shrubs and buckeye trees, all supporting pollinator ecosystems.

Benham said he starts with the soil. From tunnelling worms and grubs, to low-level shrubs, to high-reaching elms — there’s intention and reason in his work. Logs half buried in the ground and piles of mulch and sawdust provide refuge for mason and bumble bees.

County councillor Campbell Cork referred to Benham as “Pollinator Jack,” likening him to a modern-day Johnny Appleseed. Never far from Benham’s side is a bag of pollinator seeds, Cork said, which Benham flings wherever he goes.

“He is a friend of all living things, and in particular the bees — and our pollinators at this time are in desperate need of friends,” Cork said.

“We sometimes take ourpollinators for granted as we drown them in herbicides and pesticides, but without them we are doomed.”

Cork recalled a sunny fall day when he and Benham were walking the sanctuary, the sound of buzzing and birds filling their ears.

“That buzzing is only going to get louder as this sanctuary matures,” Cork said, imagining a tree canopy, and residents walking through hollows as bugs zigzagged through the air.

Cork brought forward a successful motion at county council last year to open the former landfill as a public park.

The sanctuary remains fenced off for now as the county readies an application to the province, which regulates how former landfill sites are used. Ministry approvals could take more than a year.