Somerville Pollinator Action Plan: A Pollinator’s Guide to City Living

The Somerville Pollinator Action Plan is a first-of-its-kind urban pollinator research and policy framework, envisioning a city where biodiversity grows alongside community. Pollinator decline—projected at 30% insect loss over the next 20 years—demands urgent attention. iNaturalist and community observation data was mapped to create a baseline of known local pollinators. The plan details pollinator support strategies with both science and aesthetics in mind, including original ecological research, plant lists, revamped municipal policy and maintenance practices, and a ‘Pollinator Pantry’ of 40+ regionally specific planting ‘recipe cards.’ The methodology and open-source framework is replicable across the US to support urban biodiversity.

The Somerville Pollinator Action Plan (SPAP) guides efforts to create an urban environment to support pollinators in Somerville, MA. With pollinators essential to food production, biodiversity, and ecosystem stability, their decline—marked by a 28% drop in bumble bees and 19% of butterflies in the last decade—demands urgent research and action. This requires considering all pollinators, such as beetles, hover flies, wasps, and birds. Without intervention, insect populations could decline 30% in less than 20 years.

Modifying conventional landscape practices is critical to making cities more pollinator- and people- friendly. Somerville, MA is the most densely populated city in New England, with only .17 sq miles of publicly owned pervious land. Interventions must occur both at the residential scale and on public lands. The SPAP, developed with scientists, public officials, landscape architects, and community leaders, delivers original urban pollinator research and a format for intervening immediately at both small and large scales. Cities have a critical role to play in reconnecting landscapes to pollinators and people to pollinators.

Using data from citizen science platforms iNaturalist, Ebird, Tufts Pollinator Initiative, and EwA Buggy, researchers mapped species presence and seasonality, setting a foundation for conservation and ongoing monitoring. 299 unique pollinators in Somerville were documented in 9397 observations. The project conservation biologist used over 10,000+ photographs to identify local pollinator and plant interactions, creating priority plant lists (including non-natives and cultivars!). Peer-reviewed literature was layered into the hyper-local findings to create a prioritized ‘Comprehensive Plant List’ (over 400 ecoregion- specific species) of both foraging and host plants. The list was used to create a ‘Pollinator Pantry’ of 40+ ‘Recipe Cards’ for garden designs at different scales, including critical trees and shrubs and easy lawn-to-forb conversions. GIS mapping sets priority areas for habitat creation by identifying gaps between existing pollinator gardens, water resources, and areas with minimal pollinator sightings.

SPAP provides easy-to-follow checklists of revamped maintenance practices that target specific user groups, such as public DPW, landscape contractors, and residents. Branded signs were developed for pollinator-forward plantings and maintenance practices in the field.

Public policy recommendations include revisions to lighting, maintenance, native plant and green roof ordinances. These small modifications have a big impact on urban pollinator health.

For roll-out and dissemination, a ‘Pollinator Ambassadors’ program was developed to train residents through ‘Pollinator Safaris’ to identify insects and spread the word. Six charismatic ‘Mascot’ species were selected to help the community ‘Meet Your Pollinator Neighbors!’ Approachable videos and stickers were created about the mascots to encourage community awareness and future monitoring. Over 15 community events were held throughout the planning process to identify community values and educate the public. As part of the plan release, demonstration gardens were planted by volunteers and included complimentary plant giveaways.

This plan provides a scalable model to create urban pollinator plans that prioritize research and public participation, expanding ecological networks with collective tiny actions.