The third week in June is National Pollinator Week, established in 2006 by the U.S. Senate and the Pollinator Partnership to spotlight the manifold benefits pollinators provide and the urgent need to preserve and create more pollinator-friendly landscapes. Landscape architects play an integral role in designing spaces that foster healthy pollinator habitats, using their ingenuity to create vibrant, well-designed landscapes that support the pollinator population.
To celebrate Pollinator Week, ASLA’s Government Affairs team is co-hosting a congressional reception with the Pollinator Partnership at the ASLA Center for Landscape Architecture later this month. There will also be an ASLA Online Learning presentation on June 18, hosted by the Ecology and Restoration Professional Practice Network (PPN) and presented by Anthony Fettes, ASLA, PLA, SITES AP, Senior Associate at Sasaki Associates, Inc.:
Tuesday, June 18, 2:00-3:00 p.m. (Eastern)
1.0 PDH (LA CES/HSW)
Pollinators are an imperative part of biodiversity and also vital to our well-being, contributing to one-third of global food production, and yet their populations and habitats are sharply declining. This presentation explores how pollinators can be supported at multiple scales by the collective effort between conservation ecologists and landscape architects. Join us to learn about the importance of understanding your ecoregion, ways to identify research opportunities, and how to develop a design strategy that includes foraging resources, safe locations, and materials for shelter and nesting sites (or host plants for butterflies and moths).
In advance of Pollinator Week, we are rounding up ASLA resources highlighting landscape architects’ leadership in the creation of pollinator-friendly landscapes:
Publications and Articles:
- Applying Ecological Design: Supporting Pollinators, from the Sustainable Residential Design Guide
- “Creature Comforts,” Landscape Architecture Magazine
In Germany, a landscape architect and a biologist have developed an approach to invite animals into urban development projects. It involves providing all, not just some, of what species need as habitat. - “The Specialists,” Landscape Architecture Magazine
Sam Droege put some ultra-high-resolution photographs of bees on the Internet. And then they took off.
- “The Chain of Demand,” Landscape Architecture Magazine
To persuade homeowners and other clients to grow more ecologically suitable plants in place of exotics, there has to be an ample supply of specimens for sale. Right now, there isn’t.
- Creating Pollinator Habitat Along Roadsides, The Field
- Pollinators & the City, The Field
- New Short Film: Pollinators Under Pressure, THE DIRT
- Are Urban Bats the Future?, THE DIRT
- Highways Can Help Pollinators Return to Health, THE DIRT
- A Bold Plan for Saving Pollinators, THE DIRT
Award-Winning Projects:
- Dolores Street Pollinator Boulevard in San Francisco, CA. ASLA 2018 Student Honor Award in Student Community Service. Julia Prince, Student ASLA; Benjamin Heim, Associate ASLA; University of California Berkeley.
- The Ecological Atlas Project. ASLA 2017 Professional Honor Award in Research. Studio Roberto Rovira.
- Concrete Habitat Units. ASLA 2013 Student Honor Award in General Design. Evan Lee, Student ASLA; George Kutnar, Student ASLA; Joshua Leyva, Student ASLA; Kevin Finch, Student ASLA; Nabyl Marcias, Student ASLA; Natasha Harkison, Student ASLA; and Kenny Sperling, Assoc. ASLA; California Polytechnic State University, Pomona.
ASLA Online Learning:
- Promoting Pollinators Through Landscape Architecture: Strategies to Improve Habitat Value & Landscape Performance
- Collaborative Restoration: Integrating Landscape Architecture and Ecology for Resilient Landscape Design
- Creating Pollinator Habitat Along Roadsides
- Planting Design for Pollinators: Choosing the Best Plants and Using Them Effectively
- Re-envisioning Diversity: Integrating Rural and Urban Pollinator Habitats