HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-10-23 Public Comment - K. Dayton - landscaping of city-owned and privately-owned spaces in BozemanFrom:Katherine Dayton
To:Agenda
Subject:landscaping of city-owned and privately-owned spaces in Bozeman
Date:Tuesday, January 10, 2023 10:28:17 PM
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Hello ---
I don't have anything specific to request for the agenda... rather, just a topic that I hope will get
high priority, and the consult of experts.
Doug Tallamy gave an excellent presentation about the power of proper landscaping forecosystem health. Of course it would be great if there was less pavement & parking lots, but
for the areas of sod, etc., there are so many good options that we could start to institutionalize.
My comments from the peanut gallery...
Hiring people like Doug, Kareen Erbe (Broken Ground Permaculture in Bozeman) +
other experts in native plants that promote healthy ecosystems. This can't be traditionallandscaping companies... it needs to be with people who have specific, deep expertise.
Require developers to stop using things like Kentucky Bluegrass & other landscapingthat kills biodiversity & wastes water.
Provide robust credits & rebates to residents for tearing out sod / going with nativespecies, etc.
Get the local nurseries on board, including box stores that often sell stuff that doesn'twork in this climate... Everything needs to be synced up so the responsibility isn't on
residents. We need to know about rebates (marketing expert to get the word out / socialmedia / signs in yards / etc. for promo) + nurseries that are totally synced up (they'll sell
more of the good stuff if customers know what the rebate items are, etc.... thecomplexity for residents needs to be removed... it's hard enough figuring out how to do
the right thing w/ food purchases & recycling... we can't also expect everyone to geteducated on native plants & landscaping).
Schools, parks, cemeteries and other city-owned land needs to go native... and withsigns that educate people about the plants & trees, as well as the other species that will
grow & benefit from this overhaul.
Undoubtedly there will need to be more budget set aside..for everything from marketingto rebates to actual overhauls of our landscape.
Watching one of Doug's talks online if inspiration is needed....
Related to this, has Bozeman ever considered being one of the Project Drawdown cities?
Thanks so much for all that you do---- I know it's a lot!
Best,
Katherine