Seattle's Pollinator Pathway

Seattle's 2nd Ave NW got a pilot stormwater street (Street Edge Alternatives project) in 2001. This year, Columbia Street will get the Pollinator Pathway initiated by Sarah Bergmann.

Columbia Street's Pollinator Pathway, in progress.  Source: Images created by Studio Matthews in collaboration with the University of Washington design program. http://studiomatthews.com

In an interview with GOOD magazine, Bergmann remarked that "lawn grass has almost no ecological value for pollinators." Using the existing framework of city-owned planting strips maintained by adjacent property owners, Columbia Street residents will create pollinator-friendly gardens by removing grass cover from the planting strip and replacing the lawn with mostly Northwest native flora. Two gardens along the mile stretch have been completed.

Source: Images created by Studio Matthews in collaboration with the University of Washington design program. http://studiomatthews.com

Pollinatorpathway.com provides, among other resources, garden templates and descriptions of the species of bees (Western bumblebee, Orchard Mason bee), butterflies (Pale Swallowtail butterfly, Persius Duskywing), birds (Rufous Hummingbird), and bats that will benefit from the new habitat.  

The Pollinator Pathway, as imagined by Bergmann, is not an island.  It will link Seattle University which "has a long history with sustainable landscaping methods, and houses a pollinator friendly garden" and Nora’s Woods, a 0.35-acre city park "that hosts many native, pollinator friendly plants."

Hat tip: "Pollinator Pathway: Vital Ecology in the Emerald City," Theo Schell-Lambert, GOOD magazine.