Published On: September 28th, 2019Categories: Uncategorized


The Goss Grove neighborhood grew significantly this past summer. In a community-led effort, it added dozens of new residences, many with beautiful wooden styling, and a feast-worthy, locally sourced food court.

But these amenities aren’t for humans. They’re for native bees, butterflies, hummingbirds and other pollinators.

Boulder celebrates Pollinator Appreciation Month every September. Yet for Andrea Montoya, pollinators deserve appreciation all year long. That’s why she started the Pollinator Corridor Community Project in Goss Grove this past spring.

During a trip to the library, her grandson became fascinated with the bee houses there, built by the local advocacy group Bee Chicas. Montoya started looking into pollinators and biodiversity and found that she could apply her science background and position as co-chair of the Goss Grove Neighborhood Association to start the project.

The city awarded a $2,500 grant to get the project off the ground. That money goes toward purchasing native plants and materials used to build bee houses, as well as educational events.

“If we talk about this in the right way, it’s going to encourage people to plant the right stuff and do the right thing,” Montoya said.

While the well-known honey bee lives in colonies that survive year after year, native bees — of which there are hundreds of different species — nest alone in the ground or in tree cavities. Honey bees are generalists, able to get food from a variety of flora. Some native pollinators are generalists, but many are specialists, only feeding on a small handful of plants.

Populations of both honey bees and native bees have been in decline recently, possibly due to pesticide use or changing temperatures. Though Boulder has lots of green space, much of that is not available for native bees, which need to interact with native plants and shrubs instead of turf grass and traditionally landscaped gardens.

Deborah Foy, one of the Bee Chicas, notes that honey bees have been protected decently well by humans through beekeeping, but native bees have not received the same kind of support. Each of the Bee Chicas has practiced beekeeping for at least a decade, though their outreach efforts support and advocate for all sorts of pollinators.

Projects like Montoya’s can do the work of bringing back habitat that native bees and other pollinators need, which has shrunk in recent years.

The Goss Grove project isn’t the only pollinator-friendly space in the city. There are gardens at the Boulder Public Library, as well as the Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse and Rayback Collective. These gardens are among many that are supported by the Boulder Pollinator Garden Project. The city set up the network this year to help facilitate the exchange of resources between pollinator-oriented projects and advocacy groups.

“We’re excited about the direction we can go as a community as we work together,” said Rella Abernathy, integrated pest management coordinator for the city. “We want to be supporting this work and help projects support each other in whatever they need.”

Though the network is still new, Abernathy says it has big goals. Currently it’s working to connect neighborhoods that have their own pollinator programs into one district. Eventually it will analyze the city for strategic locations to place additional pollinator- friendly habitats, with the outlook of interconnecting everything.

There’s a lot that needs to happen before the city becomes a haven for native pollinators, but Abernathy says she’s seeing progress thanks to projects supporting each other. In November, the city will host the 2019 Pollinator Summit, a statewide gathering convened by the Colorado Pollinator Network to discuss the very issues that the city is working on. (tickets.butterflies.org/DateSelection.aspx?item=491).

The Goss Grove pollinator corridor is already making a difference in the neighborhood, aligning with the grant’s goals of fostering a sense of community. Over 30 people are involved, so far with more joining all the time. Goss Grove is a unique location for a project like this, according to Montoya, given the mixture of its residents. She has Boulder High School students working next to long-time homeowners as well as renters of all ages.

“Everyone who hears about it and gets involved, they come away feeling good about their involvement,” Montoya said. “They say to me, ‘I feel empowered. I’m putting my hands in the ground and I’m making a change.’”

The project’s impact on the local environment won’t show up for a while. Montoya says that she’s seen some increases in pollinator activity, but she estimates about three years as a realistic timeline to reach a more significant level of biodiversity. She hopes to add more native plants and bee houses to the neighborhood’s spaces and gardens,
involving more neighbors along the way.

“This isn’t a hobby,” Montoya said, “this is a movement.”


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