Increase pollinator habitat on County and private lands to 75 acres by 2025
Objective Description
Trend Analysis
By 2019 Howard County had created 55 acres of pollinator friendly habitat. In 2020 we created 7.6 acres of habitat on County and private land. This increase can be attributed to the Bee City USA program which commits to creating and enhancing pollinator habitat in Howard County. Entries in our Habitat Registration form have captured an additional 5.5 acres of pollinator habitat on private land that was not accounted for in the baseline, for a total increase of 13.1 acres. A total of 4.6 acres of pollinator habitat was added in 2021. As anticipated, we had a smaller increase for this year as there were no large County meadow installations. The majority of the increase in 2021 came from private projects. Over the next couple years we expect to engage large land owners and plan bigger projects.
Strategies
- Capitalize on mowed areas that can be converted to pollinator habitat. This will also decrease greenhouse gas emissions.
- Expand community educational resources and workshops for creating pollinator habitat.
- Obtain grant funds whenever possible to offset costs and create incentives for private landowners.
- Conduct full scale inventory of County owned land to identify priority areas
- Create and implement a program to educate developers about maximizing pollinator habitat when designing new communities.
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Source: Office of Community Sustainability