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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-11-25 Public Comment - A. Sangroniz - Sustainability Board Public CommentFrom:Amaia Sangroniz To:Bozeman Public Comment Subject:[EXTERNAL]Sustainability Board Public Comment Date:Tuesday, June 10, 2025 4:05:29 PM Attachments:Sustainability Board Public Comment.pdf 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. Good afternoon, Attached is my public comment for members of the Sustainability Board. Although themeeting for tomorrow has been cancelled, I hope this message finds members of the board. Best regards, Amaia Sangroniz Dear Members of the Sustainability Board in the City of Bozeman, My name is Amaia Sangroniz, and I’m writing as a member of the Bozeman community passionate about advancing the sustainability and resilience of our food system. Today, I’m writing to advocate for the resourcing and expansion of collaboratively-ran community gardens within our city. Community gardens have proven to be extremely valuable in improving food security, increasing biodiversity in urban environments, and increasing community cohesion, amongst many other benefits. Additionally, the expansion of community gardens is aligned with the recommendations and future directions of the Local Food Systems Preliminary Mapping project conducted by the City of Bozeman. Food insecurity is an urgent issue in our community. According to the HRDC’s Food and Nutrition Annual report from 2023-2024, there has been a 21% increased user-ship at the Gallatin Valley Food Bank. The Food bank is an incredibly valuable resource to address the symptoms of food insecurity. Community gardens play a vital role in building the resilience of our local food system to increase community food security now and in the future. I have been fortunate enough to be closely involved with the Learning Garden at Story Mill, both personally and professionally. The Story Mill Community Garden is the City of Bozeman’s ONLY publicly accessible, publicly-harvested community garden. Beyond its accessibility by the public, it also uses a unique model relative to other community gardens. There is no individual management of plots. Instead, with the support and guidance of a resourced manager, all plots are planted, weeded, harvested, and eaten by all members of the community. This model has proven its success at Story Mill to be highly productive and to provide fresh, nutrient-dense, locally grown organic produce to our food insecure neighbors. This community garden model can and should be implemented in public parks throughout the city. The garden is part of the public park, and has been managed by the HRDC Food and Nutrition Program for about 5 years. Unfortunately, due to federal funding cuts, the garden manager position for the Story Mill Community garden has lost near to all funding this season. The garden manager, as someone who is deeply connected with folks in our local food system, reached out to various groups, friends, and food system professionals to name this lost funding, and her fear that the garden would not be able to produce food this season for our most vulnerable and food insecure community members. The Montana Indigenous Food Sovereignty Initiative, or MIFSI, was able to create a temporary position to fund some of the lost management hours for this growing season. Additionally, engaged community members have stepped up to plant and tend to the garden in this tumultuous time in order to feed our neighbors. As expressed in the Local Food System Preliminary Mapping Project report, the City is: “interested in expanding the existing community garden program and exploring other opportunities for urban agriculture on City-owned parkland. However, the City lacks the capacity to effectively manage and grow these initiatives on its own. The most viable model that emerged would be to partner with a community organization(s) that could lead new initiatives and manage the community garden program”. I see collaboration with MIFSI and the Buffalo Nations Food System Initiative to be imperative for our community gardens moving forward. However, we should not rely on our Indigenous community members to financially support a space that is so valuable to all of our community. By creating a staff position in the City of Bozeman, we can create a more stable structure to support the work done at Story Mill Community Garden, while partnering with our local Indigenous Food Sovereignty groups to be the hosts of the space. The expansion and promotion of community gardens is clearly outlined as a priority in the Local Food Systems Mapping project. Additionally, community gardens align with the goals outlined in Bozeman’s 2020 Climate Plan, specifically the overarching Resiliency goals: “Increase Social Cohesion” and “Protect Human Health”. Additional goals and solutions from the Climate Plan that are supported by community gardens are listed below: Solution I. Enhance Social Infrastructure Solution N: Cultivate a Robust Local Food System 6.N.3. Encourage Local Agriculture and Preservation of Working Lands 2 6.N.4. Support Local Food Production, Processing, and Distribution Solution P. Manage Land and Resources to Sequester Carbon The value of community gardens that are collectively stewarded cannot be overstated. Looking ahead, I hope to see a funded staff position through the City of Bozeman, most likely through the Parks and Rec department, for a full-time, seasonal garden manager. Community support for these gardens is not enough without the knowledge and leadership of a paid garden manager. Partnering with local groups is important for the successful stewardship of community gardens, but we have seen this year how we cannot rely on nonprofits alone to manage these spaces. Our public parks, and the community gardens residing within them, should be managed by a staffed position through the city in order to secure long-term sustainability of the gardens and garden programming. Thank you for taking the time to read this comment. I look forward to continuing to collaborate on solutions to advance the sustainability and resilience of our local food system in the City of Bozeman. -Amaia Sangroniz