The Pollinator Pathway is a participatory art, design and ecology social sculpture[1] initiative founded by the artist and designer Sarah Bergmann. Its objective is to connect existing isolated green spaces and create a more hospitable urban environment for pollinators like bees with a system of ecological corridors of flowering plants by using existing urban infrastructure such as curb space and rooftops.
The Columbia Street pollinator pathway segment near downtown Seattle, Washington runs east-west from Nora's Woods to Seattle University. A planned extension connects north to Volunteer Park.
The first segment of the pathway on Columbia Street, which Bergmann received grants from the City of Seattle, Northwest Horticultural Society, and Awesome Foundation to create,[6][7] replaced a 108-foot (33m) long, 12-foot (3.7m) grass strip between the street and sidewalk with plants that could attract pollinators.[8][9] The pathways are composed of individual plots of perennialnative plant species on city-owned property, tended by local volunteers.[9][10][notes 1]
Since late 2013, Bergmann has offered a certification program for new pathways to use the trademarked Pollinator Pathway name.[14]
Other cities
Cities other than Seattle have explored the idea of connecting landscapes for pollinators. In 2008, about the same time the Seattle project was getting under way, the Canadian Pollination Initiative wrote a paper on a "pollinator park" concept to include "...right-of-way passages, including highways, power lines, gas lines and other maintained corridors can be designed in such a way that they serve as pollinator habitats."[15]
In 2011, a New York author and artist Aaron Birk wrote an illustrated story, The Pollinator's Corridor, about a pathway connecting the city's landscape.[16]
City–citizen discussions
Several cities have used official means to initiate citizen discussions on their own pollinator pathways following Seattle's model, including Redmond, Washington; the Niagara Falls, New York area; and Los Angeles, California via the mayor's blog.[17][18][19][20]
Awards
In 2012, Bergmann received The Stranger's Genius Award and Seattle Art Museum's Betty Bowen Award for the project.[21][22] In 2013, she was named one of Seattle's most influential people of the year by Seattle Magazine, along with recipients of the award who had created other Seattle area pollinator conservation projects.[23]
Notes
↑ "[T]he artist works with each homeowner along the Pathway, as well as with designers, entomologists, botanists, landscape designers, urban planners, students and a host of volunteers". (Seattle Art Museum [SAM])[11]
↑ Described by SAM as "[a] garden containing native plants that attract pollinators such as bees, birds, and butterflies ... [that] provides a glimpse of a much more ambitious project".[11]
References
↑ Paul Constant; Jen Graves; Charles Mudede; David Schmader (June 23, 2014), "In Culture News: New Shabazz Palaces, New Art and Cultural Center in Pioneer Square, and a New Pollinator Pathway", The Stranger
↑ Ann LeVasseur (Summer 2012), Judy Redmond (ed.), "The Pollinator Pathway", Garden Notes, Northwest Horticultural Society: 3, The pathway starts at Seattle University on 12th Avenue and stretches for a mile along Columbia Street to 29th Avenue where it ends at Nora's Woods, a native plants park. The neighborhood parking strips are being replaced with pollinator-friendly gardens of mostly native plants. To date, 12 gardens have been planted. The $2,500 grant from NHS will fund another garden.
↑ "The Full List: Most Influential People of 2013", Seattle Magazine, November 2013, Lauren England, West Seattle Bee Garden; Sarah Bergmann; Pollinator Pathway, Bob Redmond, Urban Bee Company; Corky Luster, Ballard Bee Company
Tracey Byrne (February 14, 2015) Pollinator Pathway® What Is It Really About? BeePeeking: online journal promoting environmental stewardship and the enhancement of urban ecosystems
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