The Good Stuff: A Pollinator District!
A Casey Lyons report on help for our bees and butterflies
Variegated fritillary (Euptoieta claudia) photo credit A. Carper
Earlier this year, the city embarked on a multiyear process to become certified as a Pollinator City (or Municipal Pollinator District) and Karen asked me to write a little about what that means and how we might bring this wonderful designation to our city.
My name is Casey Lyons, I live in Lafayette and I’m the executive director of Friends of Coal Creek, a local nonprofit dedicated to restoring and enhancing habitat along the creek and the towns along its run. We do a lot of our work in pollinators and partner with the city on habitat enhancement (weeding, seeding and planting) on open space. I am also a member of the Lafayette Open Space Advisory Board.
The Pollinator City program is administered by the Butterfly Pavilion in Westminster, which many of you likely know, and is the only invertebrate zoo accredited by the American Zoo Association. To my mind, the level of scientific rigor that the Butterfly Pavilion brings to the certification puts it head-and-shoulders above all similar certifications. The basic idea is to engage the community (private residents, business owners, educators, developers, administrators and elected officials) to increase the footprint of quality pollinator habitat over the footprint of development, and make that habitat durable.
Colorado pollinator gardens showcase regional flora and support native bees and butterflies. Credit: Don / flickr. Licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Let me unpack that a little. Some 90 percent of land in the city is privately owned and Lafayette is among the Front Range cities that are expanding rapidly. We believe there is a way to work consideration for pollinators into economic development to the mutual benefit of the city and its residents.
Colorado is a place for pollinators. The state contains 1,006 species of native bee (at latest count, but it keeps going up) and 300+ species of native butterflies. Boulder County, with its large topographic spread, is home to many of those species. Think tiny black bees, or iridescent green ones, bumblebees with orange-and-yellow rumps, and butterflies and moths galore. These insects are part of what makes Colorado unique and beautiful.
They’re also imperiled by habitat loss and fragmentation, pesticides and climate change. But here’s the thing: We can do something about this. And more than just a vague sense of satisfaction for doing so, we can make our landscapes more beautiful, more resilient against flooding and wildfire, and create a sense of place and home that’s written in butterflies, bees and flowers. We will never see pronghorns walking along Public Road, or bison scratching off their winter fur on the cottonwoods by Coal Creek, but we can support our pollinators, which like the bison and pronghorn, have recently been designated as “wildlife” by the state.
The Pollinator City designation takes a long time to achieve, which is a sign of its rigor. The idea isn’t just to put up a sign near the city line but to create lasting, resilient habitat. The scoring rubric has 7 criteria that includes everything from soil health to storm water management to planning and plants. To achieve a qualifying score, we must study, identify and build work plans in each criteria.
Several months ago, a Steering Committee came together with representation from city staff, nonprofits, educators, landscape designers, high school students and community activists to begin the work. That work continues apace with goal and strategy setting. Importantly, the City of Lafayette Open Space Department has included $10,000 in its 2025 budget to fund an initial survey of habitat quality on city-owned open space. Planning for a community green space on Public Road (at the southwest corner of Kimbark) that includes native plantings for pollinators will begin in 2025.
Through these actions and the dedication of city staffers Lexie Sierra-Martinez, Open Space superintendent, and Elizabeth Bocon, sustainability director, the City of Lafayette is showing enormous dedication to its pollinators and regional leadership on the issue. When we certify, we will be the first plains city to do so. We are lucky to live in a place that lives these values. Read more on the city’s website.
Participating can be simple or complex. Friends of Coal Creek is building a network of certified habitat gardens. If you garden with native plants, get in touch, or fill out our online form to have your garden added to the map. We are planning some public events – bio blitzes and educational events – coming up in the spring. If you have capacity to help organizationally, or would like to join the Steering Committee, reach out to me at friendsofcoalcreek@gmail.com.
Lafayette is doing something great here. Great for the city, great for its citizens, and great for developers who can join the effort and reap good will. There is a way for everyone to get involved and we’ll need everyone.
Nevada bumble bee (Bombus nevadensis) Photo credit A. Carper
Support Pollinators in Every Season
Winter: Leave the leaves – all that leaf litter houses the next generation of butterflies and moths.
Spring: Wait to clean up your garden until Mother’s Day – then plant native plants. Have a healthy native garden? Divide your plants and give them to your friends (or to Friends of Coal Creek – we’ll use them).
Summer: Help plants survive the hot and dry months by irrigating with drip irrigation when necessary (most native plants don’t require much supplemental irrigation). Keep some patches of bare dirt in your garden so ground-nesting bees can burrow. Cut back or quit the use of pesticides and herbicides.
Fall: Plant like it’s second spring (it is) – and resist the urge to do a fall cleanup. Spent flower stalks are home to lots of larvae.
Learn more: CSU Extension’s Fact Sheet - Creating Pollinator Habitat
Karen here, I’m adding a few more pieces of info and encouraging you to contact those at the city to show your support and thanks. Speaking of thanks, a huge one goes to Casey for answering my request for some info with this detailed and informative piece plus the gorgeous photos!
If you would like to let the City Council know you support this effort here’s the form
Do you want to thank Lexie and Lizzy for their work spearheading this project?
Lexie.Martinez@lafayetteco.gov
Elizabeth.Bocon@lafayetteco.gov
Some additional information from the city website:
10 steps to a pollinator garden
Low-water plants for pollinators
Habitat-friendly maintenance guidelines
Lafayette’s Climate Action Plan
The current locations of certified pollinator-friendly gardens as shown on the Friends of Coal Creek website.
Want to offer more support? Awesome!