Update on The Grove BCUA Pollinator Garden – Nancy The pollinator garden was a community effort with the help of Eileen and Victor. Albert dug the hole for the chaste tree. Recent rains helped water in the plants. However, since planting, deer have eaten a number of things. We have some decisions to make about replacements, because deer loved the gaura, penstemon and autumn-joy sedum. Kristina is going to submit an article to the paper about the adverse impact of deer on pollinators. We will wait till spring and see which plants survive and which ones need to be replaced with more deer resistant varieties. The final irrigation fixes and wood chip mulch are finished, so the last of the plants can now be installed. Once the garden fills in and looks more dramatic, we will be publicizing the garden on Facebook, on the Website and in the City Source. o Kristina and Nancy will get the germander and thyme in the ground. Flyer/brochure for pollinator-friendly landscape practices – Kristina Carolyn expressed some interest in this project but hasn’t provided any content yet. Kristina still has an outline of brochure content. Objective: 1) landscaping recommendations for residential home owners. OR 2) to provide information about Bee City USA and the Approved Pollinator Program. Audience: People who have a garden, but haven’t made a connection and don’t know about the garden program. People who don’t know we are a Bee City USA. People who don’t know anything about pollinator gardens and need to learn about them through advocacy. For businesses, ie, hotels, to display, so that tourists can learn about the program and what we do. Libby proposes narrowing/focusing the audience and objective, and also that we adopt this publication as a goal in our goal setting meeting early next year. Kristina will send the current verbiage of the brochure to the rest of the committee for feedback. Additional Bee City USA signage – Kristina Current price for two more Bee City USA signs: between $136 for two from Cantell, or $108 from Sign Dude. The subcommittee would like the sign on the South side of town before Tolman Creek Road, and one near the east entrance as well. Libby thinks that if we had the signs in hand, we could offer a sign to the Streets department and ask them to place it (at their discretion). Nancy moves that we put in an order for two signs from Sign Dude. All in favor. Kristina will order two Bee City USA signs from Sign Dude. NMP Class for Spring (reminder) – Nancy Nancy and Kristina will be teaching about mason bee habitat and helping people make mason bee homes in a class this spring.
VI. NEW BUSINESS
Budget – Libby The general budget still contains the $500 dedicated by Michael Black, which should be spent by June 30. And there is still $297 in donations remaining in the Ashland Parks Foundation. BCUA subcommittee member application from Carolyn Campbell – Kristina Carolyn did not attend the meeting, so we’ll put this off. BCU Annual Report – Kristina Annual report is due January 31st. Renewal will cost approximately $200 to Bee City USA central. The committee members will work together to write up a summary of our 2017 accomplishments for the annual report. Discuss Project Ideas for Goals list from 2017 (attached) - Kristina Albert would like to see us attend the Tuesday markets a bit more. He suggests that we retain the Pollinator Garden Tour, and possibly do something for Earth Day. The committee agreed to schedule a meeting at the beginning of the year to review the current list so we can select two action items for 2018. Proposal for Project Ideas list for 2018: Annual Fall BCUA plant sale / swap - Kristina, Nancy
Kristina suggested we do a fall pollinator plant sale and swap with the Bee City USA gardens. We could publicize this during the pollinator garden tour, and could invite the Ashland Garden Club to participate if they like. City of Irvine’s IPM – Kristina Irvine has gone non-toxic on all City properties. 22 months ago, their City Council voted unanimously to prohibit pesticides, herbicides and synthetic fertilizers on City property. Their IPM program has increased the public works budget by 5.6%. Kristina suggests that Parks and Rec look at what Irvine is doing now, including what products they use on their fields etc, and see if APRC wants to follow in those footsteps. Ashland won’t have to reinvent the wheel because Irvine has done the research. (Libby suggests sharing information that could “educate” the commissioners, rather than lobbying for a specific result.) Kristina will send some presentation topics that could educate the Commissioners at the next public meeting. Libby will send these ideas to Susan Dyssegard to see if they can get on a Commission meeting agenda. Garden Program Letters - Nancy has developed letters to potential pollinator gardeners. These can be used to invite more participation in our Approved Pollinator Garden Program. Also, Nancy has developed a rejection letter for gardens that don’t meet the requirements. These can be used for our outreach and approval process. Nancy will send the letters to the subcommittee for edits, which should be sent to Nancy. Nancy will send final text of the letters to everyone so that we have access to them for future communications.
OTHER ITEMS FROM COMMITTEE MEMBERS
UPCOMING MEETING DATES
Libby will Doodle Poll for: January goal setting. Sometime in last two weeks, no Thursdays. Libby will Doodle Poll for: Quarterly meeting March 6th and 7th 13th and 14th.
Attachments
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