What is the Coal Creek Pollinator District?
We are expressing the creek’s habitat potential by building contiguous habitat for a variety of native insects and birds. The effort is beginning in Lafayette with plans to extend it outward toward Erie and Louisville in subsequent years. We are calling it the Coal Creek Pollinator District.
Support Pollinators
Colorado has a stupendous amount of native bees: more than 950 species, many of them struggling for suitable habitat. We think of honeybees when we think about bees, but honeybees are actually imports and many of the area’s native bee species are quite a bit smaller, more docile, solitary, and they sleep in the ground instead of living in hives. These small bees have a foraging range of 500 feet, making a network of quality habitat crucial to support the bees long term. We are pursuing projects on underutilized land that can all link up to form rich islands of connected habitat.
Bees (and moths, butterflies, flies, beetles, birds, bats and all the rest of our pollinators) need sources of nourishment and shelter. Our designs include plants and structure that give each type of pollinator what they need to thrive.
The Land
The Coal Creek Pollinator Network seeks to make a quick and lasting impact by using carefully selected plant species that best support our native pollinators. A diversity of plants adds richness to areas that are currently planted with invasive weeds and grasses. This improves the habitat for wildlife immediately adjacent to the creek and lets us add width to the wildlife corridor.
Types of Projects
Water Detention Basins
Water detention basins hold storm runoff from larger developments (commercial and residential) and discharge it slowly into Coal Creek, so as not to cause erosion. Weeds and other invasive plants inhabit these spaces, often making them eyesores or at least overlooked. By adding native plants to the landscape, we can create new viewsheds and opportunities to see our pollinators at work. Views that once didn’t exist now include birds eating berries and wildflowers blooming bright in every season.
Importantly, these plantings wouldn’t change the way the detention basin operates. We are seeking partners on plantings up to 2 acres. Think it might be right for your HOA or commercial building? Get in touch!
Pollinator Gardens
This fall we’re installing a pollinator garden at The Peaks in Lafayette. This is part of a program the Butterfly Pavilion participates in to bring pollinators to senior living centers across the area. Pollinator gardens can be up to 500 square feet but are carefully designed to support a wide variety of wildlife. Talk to us about having one at your business, apartment building, or church!
Prairie Restoration
Together with the Butterfly Pavilion, we are restoring native prairie on a 3.5-acre parcel directly adjacent to Coal Creek! The work will take place at The Peaks and involve site prep, seeding, and planting. Volunteer your effort or skills (or cash)!
Pollinator Islands
Pollinator Islands are smaller units of habitat that still with everything pollinators need to be happy. These range from 150 to 300 square feet and can be installed at homes, businesses, or in underutilized area to immediately improve habitat. These come in different sizes and are completely modular so they can interconnected to cover more surface area. The Pollinator Island is Friends of Coal Creek’s main unit of conservation. Donate one or more to the effort!
Home Gardens
Replace your water-thirsty turf or perennials with water sipping, sun loving native plants. These plants are easy to garden and rewarding to grow with their prairie beauty. In no time, they’re crazy with bees and butterflies. Small gardens are crucial to connect and expand the larger pockets of habitat into a contiguous whole. Every little stand of native plants counts! Learn more.
