Pollinator gardens are some of the most unique, rewarding, and beautiful gardens you can find anywhere in Colorado. These gardens are focused on not only to be pleasing to the eye, but with the added challenge to use only native plants that support our local ecosystems as a whole. Native plants attract many different species of pollinators by providing them sites to feed, reproduce, and rest on their migration journeys. But with the loss of many of these native plant habitats in backyards, parks, or farms, many pollinator populations are struggling.
To help, the City of Arvada’s Majestic View Nature Center is looking to find all of the pollinator gardens throughout Arvada as part of the Mayors’ Monarch Pledge. This pledge is in partnership with the National Wildlife Federation and consists of over 600 local government and tribal leaders throughout the Monarch’s natural habitat in support of Monarch conservation. It started in 2015 and expanded to a tri-national partnership that has been in place since 2017.
But while the pledge focuses on the Monarch Butterfly, the City of Arvada is taking a broader approach to pollinator support. The Monarch is a key species, but there are many other pollinators that benefit from the work we are doing to support Monarch butterflies.
Pollinators are what keep our natural world moving, from our food to medicines, and even some of the clothes we wear are thanks to poliantors. They pass pollen from one plant to another, providing plants the necessary information needed to reproduce themselves. Some of the best known pollinators are bees, birds, and butterflies; but other pollinators you may see are bats, beetles, moths, flies, wasps or other small mammals.
So the Majestic View Nature Center is looking for your support in finding and identifying local pollinator gardens to determine how pollinator-friendly Arvada is for our migrating and resident pollinators. Do you know of an open space or park with a large garden of native flowering plants? Do you have a small garden or planter box at home dedicated to our beautiful Colorado plant life? You can pin these pollinator gardens around town on a map of the City at speakup.arvada.org/pollinator-project. Knowing where there is pollinator food, shelter, and reproducing sites helps us get an idea of where there are gaps, and where the City can help plan more pollinator support in future parks and landscape designs.
Have questions or want to learn more? Visit majesticviewnaturecenter.arvada.org/monarch or call the Nature Center at 720-898-7405.