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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-10-23 Public Comment - V. Saab - comments_ Bozeman Water Efficient Landscape OrdinanceFrom:Victoria Saab To:Agenda Cc:jalhstrom@bozeman.net; Anna Mack; Chelsey Trevino; Chris Nixon <pres@sacajaweaaudubon.org>; Gretchen Rupp; Beth Madden; Paulette Epple; Lou Ann Harris; Loreene Reid; Kyle Moon; Travis Kidd; John Edwards; Frank M. Marchak; Janet; Emma Narotzky; Aaron Clausen; Billy Burton Subject:comments: Bozeman Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance Date:Friday, February 10, 2023 11:25:39 AM Attachments:Comments to the City on Landscape requirements_SAS_MNPS_10Feb23.docx CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Please see the attached letter regarding the Bozeman Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance, submitted by Sacajawea Audubon Society and Valley of the Flowers Chapter of MontanaNative Plant Society. Thank you for considering our comments. Victoria Saab victoriaannsaab@gmail.com 1 RE: WATER EFFICIENT LANDSCAPE ORDINANCE – INCENTIVIZE NATIVES! • There is a need to plant significantly more native plants in our community to make it more ecologically resilient. • The City’s draft Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance needs to incentivize planting natives to support our sustainable food web. • Drought-tolerant non-natives do not support insect life, as advocated by Douglas Tallamy and the late E.O. Wilson. • The draft ordinance and Manual can be easily and succinctly revised to incentivize and require that all new landscapes include a percentage of water-wise natives. To: Mayor Andrus and Members of the Bozeman City Commission Date: 10 February 2023 From: Sacajawea Audubon Society and Valley of Flowers chapter of Montana Native Plant Society Re: Bozeman Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance Dear Mayor Andrus and Members of the Commission: We write on behalf of the Sacajawea Audubon Society and the Valley of Flowers chapter of the Montana Native Plant Society. Our two local groups represent more than 1000 members, sharing the common mission of promoting the conservation of our natural environment through enjoyment, education and action. Both groups experience a great demand by the public for guidance and information on native plants. Both societies have demonstration gardens, and host workshops and garden tours. We commend the City of Bozeman and the Water Conservation Division for currently working on a Landscape and Irrigation Standards Manual to guide the Bozeman Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance. Both societies have been providing comments and advice regarding this plan and are impressed by the City’s planned requirements to limit water-needy turf lawns and replace them with more drought- tolerant landscaping of trees, shrubs, perennials, and water-saver grasses. However, one important point is not being addressed by the plan, that is, the need to plant significantly more native plants in our community to make it more ecologically resilient. Nowhere in the plan is there an incentive or requirement for developers to plant native plants. Natives are exceedingly hardy and mostly drought tolerant. They are the basis for our sustainable local food web. There is a growing nation-wide movement to plant natives as we have learned how important they are to providing ecological services, and support a wide variety of insects, pollinators, and wildlife. Many pollinators and native bee species rely entirely on specific native plants. Conservationist and best-selling author of Nature’s Best Hope, Dr. Douglas Tallamy recently spoke in Bozeman to more than 1200 people (in attendance and online), an event co-sponsored by many local groups including the City’s Water Conservation Division. He highlighted the public’s responsibility to support biodiversity through the planting of native plants in our cities, parks, and home landscapes. See his presentation at this link: Dr Douglas Tallamy Nature's Best Hope 1 6 2023 (High Resolution video) - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqjIaaCQx8g) 2 By considering landscape requirements strictly through the lens of water conservation, we will certainly have a city that uses less water, and may appear attractively landscaped, but will not support native insect life, or “the little things that run the world” as E.O. Wilson calls them. Pollinator populations are dropping dramatically, insect populations are plummeting, and bird populations that rely on insects to feed their young are on a steady decline. Drought-tolerant European and Asian exotic plants are commonly used in landscaping but they are often sterile additions to landscapes because many are not palatable to local insects. We know that the City is not in the business of managing for insects and birds but here is an easy opportunity to make an ecological difference as we set the new landscape standards that will affect our community’s growth through the future. Many growing cities are now requiring or encouraging a percentage of landscape plants to be native (for example Boulder, CO and Tucson, AZ). We can take this opportunity to set our sights higher than just water conservation and plan for native plantings that will support biodiversity and a healthy food web in our community. In the City’s plant list associated with the Landscape Standards Manual being prepared, native plants have all been identified. However, nowhere in the Bozeman plan are developers being required to use them or even being encouraged to use natives. We urge the City of Bozeman to require a percentage of water-wise natives to be used in the landscaping standards. Perhaps there is a way to incentivize or give a higher weighting to the use of native plants. At the very least, the plan should include information educating the public, developers, and landscapers on the value of using native plants and encouraging their use for the reasons stated above. Then private homeowners, developers, and landscape designers with an environmental consciousness and desire to support birds, pollinators and all biodiversity would know how to use the new plant list and respond accordingly. Thank you for considering our concerns. Sincerely, Sacajawea Audubon Society Board of Directors: Chris Nixon, president, pres@sacajaweaaudubon.org, and members John Edwards, Emma Narotzky, Loreene Reid, Vicki Saab, Aaron Clausen, Travis Kidd, Frank Marchak, Janet Winnie, Billy Burton, Kyle Moon, and Conservation Co-chairs Lou Ann Harris and Paulette Epple and Valley of Flowers chapter of Montana Native Plant Society: Gretchen Rupp, President, mnpsvof@gmail.com and Bill Klenn, Treasurer.