Pledge to Plant!
West Metro Water Alliance, Blue Thumb—Planting for Clean Water® along with scores of other partners are launching the Pledge to Plant for Pollinators and Clean Water Project (bluethumb.org/pledge). Adding native (wildflower) plantings, raingardens, and shoreline plantings to landscapes increases pollinator corridors/habitat and protects water by capturing and filtering runoff. The project’s goal is to get landowners to plant 10,000 native plantings (of any size) to protect pollinators and our 10,000 lakes by 2020.
Why Pledge to Plant?
The Environmental Pollution Agency identifies runoff as the leading water quality threat to our urban lakes and streams. Turf grass (a.k.a. “green concrete”) and other impervious surfaces such as streets and parking lots typically prevent water infiltration and lead to increased polluted stormwater runoff reaching lakes and streams. In 2015, American beekeepers lost 40% of their colonies. Monarch butterfly populations are struggling and research suggests other pollinators are also suffering serious declines due to loss of habitat and overuse of pesticides. By leveraging governmental mandates to educate the public on water quality and the growing public awareness of the plight of pollinators, this project aims to unite two audiences to achieve our shared goals.
How to Make the Pledge and Do a Planting
Residents can get started by pledging at bluethumb.org/pledge. The bluethumb.org website makes it easy for residents to navigate this new way of approaching their yard by providing all the resources needed for people to plan, purchase and plant their pollinator/water-friendly gardens. Under “find help,” visitors can find native plant nurseries, landscapers, designers, installers, hardscape products, or just the right native plant for their growing situation using the plant selector tool. The plant selector allows users to search by color, sun requirements, time of bloom, etc. There are also grants, how-to videos, and cost-calculators, workshops, available speakers and more.
Be Merry?
Most people realize the pollinators that help supply much of our food are in peril. And, our waters benefit from having water filtered with lovely raingardens that double as pollinator habitat. Where does the “merry” come in? Easy. Planting for pollinators and clean water is good for the world and doing good has been proven to have health benefits sometimes called a “helper’s high.” So lift your glass, enjoy those berries and be merry! —and thank you for spreading the pledging to plant campaign.
Who Can We Thank for Starting this Project?
The project was started by West The West Metro Water Alliance (WMWA), a partnership between watersheds, county, and parks agencies in northwestern Hennepin County. This partnership grew from a recognition that the individual organizations have many common education and public outreach goals and messages that could be more efficiently and effectively addressed and delivered collaboratively and on a wider scale. The group collaborates on various projects to provide education about pollutants affecting our lakes, streams, and rivers, and how local residents can help to improve the quality of their local waters. Other key partners include Blue Thumb—Planting for Clean®, a unique partnership of private and public organizations working for cleaner water by reducing stormwater runoff with native plantings, and Metro Blooms, a nonprofit that promotes and celebrates gardening, to beautify communities and help heal and protect our environment.
What’s Next?
New educational resources and exhibits will be developed for partners to foster positive social pressure for converting impervious areas to native pollinator habitats for clean water. This project will map new and expanded plantings and compile partner data on existing plantings to determine baseline data of managed native plantings, demonstrate impact and provide information for policy makers about existing pollinator corridors, patches and bare spots.