Adopt Resolution #17-05-124 Approving Work Plan and Budget for Trailside Pollinator Habitat Restoration at the Lake Itasca Trail

In February of 2017, Council adopted Resolution #17-02-047 supporting pollinator initiatives and approving the Mayors for Monarchs Pledge.  Additionally the other action items of this Resolution included establishing pollinator habitat on public lands and communicating to the public on the importance of pollinators in general.


 

The attached work plan and budget detail a two-phase pollinator establishment along the Lake Itasca Trail, as part of a partnership with the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The first phase would be a small scope plug planting at the Lake Itasca Trailhead—likely with Youth First participants in June.  (This would also be the backdrop for the Mayor's for Monarchs pledge signing—another element of which is the 270 student butterfly coloring project being performed by Ramsey Elementary School 4th graders later this month.)

The second phase would be a larger planting on both sides of the Lake Itasca Trail (6+ acres total) later in the Fall of 2017.
 

Funding would be from the Lawful Gambling Fund in a not-to-exceed amount of $5,000.

Both the Environmental Policy Board and the Parks and Recreation Commission continue to be supportive of the Mayors for Monarchs program and the EPB's 2017 work plan explicitly calls for to "...expand pollinator friendly landscapes on public lands through collaboration with the Parks & Recreation Commission, and Improve communications and resources regarding pollinators."

The EPB reviewed the work plan and budget this case would approve at their regular meeting on May 15, 2017.

Motion to adopt Resolution ##17-05-124 Approving the Work Plan and Budget for Trailside Pollinator Habitat Restoration at the Lake Itasca Trail
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