Meet the Team
Ashtyn Gluck
Ashtyn is a sophomore majoring in Environmental Science and Sustainability Studies and minoring in Geospatial Technology
Ella Carr
Ella is a sophomore majoring in Environmental and Sustainability Studies and Geography
Megan Chiappetta
Megan is a Senior majoring in Environmental and Sustainability Studies and minoring in Anthropology
Brandon Steinley
Brandon is a Senior majoring in Environmental and Sustainability Studies with a minor in Natural Resource Management
Introduction
Pollinators are not only extraordinarily important to human life and health, but to the vast majority of plants and ecosystems around the world. While some plants are capable of pollination without the help of animals, a whopping 90% of plant species are unable to do this task without them (NRCS and USDA, 2005). It’s crucial to recognize the importance of not only managed pollinators such as honey bees (Apis mellifera), but also wild and native pollinators (Plant Diversity, 2022). Pollinators, particularly honey bees, are facing population decline primarily due to human-driven habitat loss, fragmentation, and a complex web of other related issues. Much of the natural habitats that are left are isolated and degraded by invasive plants or agricultural pollution (Vaughan et al, 2005). Providing habitats for pollinators is one very feasible solution to keeping pollinators alive. “One of the largest threats to bees is a lack of safe habitat where they can build homes and find a variety of nutritious food sources” (The Bee Conservancy, 2022). Pollinator habitats that are fully equipped to fulfill the needs of the pollinators are extremely important to the survival of pollinators and our ecosystem.
Our group was challenged to design a pollinator habitat for GVSU's campus. The habitat needs to attract pollinators, educate the public, and inspire environmental change in the GVSU community.
Rain gardens are areas of depressed land allowing water to flow into them from roofs, driveways, streets, and other areas. They are planted with specific plants allowing a cost friendly and beautiful way to cleanse polluted water before it enters back into the Earth.
Rain Gardens:
reduce flooding
absorb nutrients and pollutants before entering groundwater
help improve water quality
By incorporating pollinator habitat into rain gardens we not only get the benefit of storm water filtration from the gardens, but also provide habitat, a food source, and receive pollination services from our pollinators.
Brainstorming
We met as a group and had a long brainstorming session in an effort to come up with the best possible way to implement a pollinator habitat on campus. We brainstormed project ideas, the features of these projects specifically, as well as who we wanted our stakeholders to be.
Below is a photo of our brainstorming session. On the left are the different project ideas, in the middle are the features of the project, and on the right are different stakeholders we thought of for our project. In the end, we decided a project concerning rain gardens would be most beneficial to our campus, as well as pollinators. In addition, we will place QR code signs to strengthen the educational value of the rain gardens around campus. The rational behind this decision was that it was the most likely to positively affect GVSU's campus as well as the pollinators that inhabit this area. We emailed many stakeholders, but chose to include the three who provided us the most information on our project.
Stakeholders
GVSU's Grounds Keeper and Landscaper
Career: Steve is in charge of grounds and landscaping on the GVSU campus.
Insight: Steve's knowledge of the current plant species on campus was extremely helpful for us to understand what plants we would want to add.
Suggestions: He was able to tell us the main plant species currently planted in rain gardens are Sedums. He also suggested that we contact the Biology Department for a more specialized list. Finally, he said that adding new plant species to rain gardens is possible, as long as they are able to withstand very wet conditions throughout the year.
SAP Director
Career: Michael is an educator and farm manager with the Office of Sustainability studies.
Insight: Having a background in Natural Resource Management as well as dealing with plants on a daily basis and helping out with the bees allows Michael to be an invaluable asset of knowledge.
Suggestions: Michael suggested for a pollinator garden to incorperate plants that are "native, low maintenance, and flower at different times of the summer." As well as having plants that are hardy and capable of fulfilling their role in a rain garden.
Office of Sustainability Director Practices
Career: Yumiko has a PhD in natural resources and many years of experience managing habitats in Vermont. She currently works as the director of the Office of Sustainability at GVSU.
Insight: Yumiko's knowledge of natural resources, experience, and knowledge of GVSU's current green infrastructure has been very helpful for the purposes of this project.
Suggestions: She suggested we talk to facilities, who formally oversee the grounds, provided contact information, and provided more resources on campus rain gardens.
After attending the Michigan Beekeepers Association Fall Conference, we also used information from the presentation given by Mike Conner on the best pollinator plants for wetland areas.
Our Project
We want to change the current plant species in rain gardens on campus to include more pollinator-friendly plants. This would allow pollinators to have easier access to food while the plants also serve the purpose of a rain garden.
Our Project Plan:
incorporate pollinator friendly plants/habitat into new and existing rain gardens on GVSU's campus
educate individuals on the importance of pollinator habitat to help influence more people into planting pollinator friendly plants
Below are specific plants we have chosen to include based on stakeholder suggestions.
We have chosen these plants based off the information gathered from our sources, in addition to recommendations given by Mike Conner who is highly educated on what plants are best to live in wetland areas. They are all capable of living in extremely wet conditions which would be necessary for they would be planted in rain gardens, and are specifically great food sources for pollinators.
Some rain gardens are compact, so three plants we would really like to see added are: Skunk Cabbage, as they are the first to bloom in the spring allowing early food sources, a Tulip Poplar tree, as they provide shade coverage for the Skunk Cabbage and are also a huge nectar source for pollinators, and Meadowsweet, as they are a food source for a huge variety of pollinators.
Skunk Cabbage
Skunk Cabbage is one of the first plants to bloom in the spring allowing them to be a great source of food for pollinators in the early spring season. Skunk cabbage attracts butterflies, bees, and beetles to pollinate it's flowers.
Honeysuckle
Honeysuckle plants are native to Michigan causing it to be great for native plants. Bees are also a huge fan of honeysuckle as well as many other pollinators. Moths, bees, hummingbirds, and wasps are among the popular pollinators of this plant.
Michigan Holly
Michigan Holly grows specifically in water making it a great plant to put in rain gardens. The species is also native to Michigan. This plant attracts mostly honey bees and native bees, with the occasional butterfly.
Tulip Poplar
The Tulip Poplar tree loves to grow near water. It grows extremely fast and produces tons of nectar, giving pollinators plenty of food after the long winter. Hummingbirds, native bees, and honey bees are the main pollinators this plant attracts.
Huckleberries
Huckleberries enjoy being planted in wetland areas, making them great for rain gardens. Bees are a big fan of their nectar causing huckleberries to be a great food source for pollinators.
Meadowsweet
Meadowsweet is typically found in damp meadows, making it suitable for a rain garden. It tends to attract a variety of bees, Japanese beetles, aphids, leaf beetles, lygus bugs, froghoppers, leafhoppers, thrips and weevils.
Buttonbush
Buttonbush is native to North America and suited for wet soils, making it appropriate to have in a rain garden. It attracts many species of butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds.
Swamp Milkweed
Swamp Milkweed is native to Michigan and thrives in wet soil. This plant in loved by Butterflies, Honey bees, many different species of native bees, and hummingbird moths.
Within the rain gardens we want to add signs including QR codes for easy access to information about the plants. These QR codes would send users to an updated portion of GVSU's website with information about which plants they are seeing and how each one is beneficial for pollinators and the rain garden.
This would allow students, staff, or any passerby on campus to educate themselves on what specific pollinator plants are planted. Our hope is that by seeing these plants planted here on campus, citizens are able to find these plants themselves and plant them in their own yards, increasing the pollinator habitats all around Allendale.
Implementation
To the left is an image of GVSU's Allendale campus from the GVSU Storm Water Initiative Page. This image provides a list of green infrastructure on campus that help to alleviate issues associated with storm water in developed areas, as well as the location of each type of infrastructure.
As of 2010, there were 24 rain gardens installed on GVSU's Allendale campus, with the largest being on the south side of the Kelly Family Sports Center, which largely resembles a wetland area.
Implementing this project would be as simple as replacing some of the existing plants in these gardens with the above provided pollinator friendly plants. This allows us to provide a habitat for pollinators, and maintain the roles of the rain gardens. Ideally, sprouts or small plants would be purchased from local nurseries and planted by the Grounds Maintenance staff or SAP volunteers. Posts with a sign, as the prototype below shows, would also be added to each garden to enhance education.
Below is a prototype sign we created to show what we would like to see in all rain gardens on campus with the new pollinator habitat plants.
References
10 ways to save the bees. The Bee Conservancy. (2022, August 9). Retrieved September 25, 2022, from https://thebeeconservancy.org/10-ways-to-save-the-bees
Katumo, D. M., Liang, H., Ochola, A. C., Lv, M., Wang, Q.-F., & Yang, C.-F. (2022). Pollinator diversity benefits natural and agricultural ecosystems, environmental health, and human welfare. Plant Diversity, 44(5), 429–435. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pld.2022.01.005
The importance of pollinators. USDA. (n.d.). Retrieved October 14, 2022, from https://www.usda.gov/peoples-garden/pollinators#:~:text=Pollinators%20by%20Numbers,bees%20help%20increase%20crop%20yields.
Vaughan, M., Shepherd, M., Kremen, C., & Black, S. H. (2005, May). Native pollinators - USDA. Fish and Wildlife Management Leaflet . Retrieved October 14, 2022, from https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb1048334.pdf