Pollinator friendly Best Management Practices for stormwater management

Rainfall from the roof on this house is routed to a perennial garden containing, among other plants, goldenrod, milkweed, and purple coneflower.

An increasing focus on Green Infrastructure has brought an awareness that stormwater management can provide numerous benefits beyond improving water quality and urban hydrology. Trees, for example, provide a multitude of benefits beyond stormwater management, as discussed in this article. In particular, vegetated stormwater best management practices (BMPs), including tree-based systems and other bioretention systems, offer opportunities to achieve multiple benefits, ranging from aesthetics (see, for example, this presentation by Dr. Steven Rodie from the University of Nebraska - Omaha) to ecosystem friendly designs.

Vegetated stormwater BMPs can be designed to be pollinator-friendly. It is clear that pollinators, both vertebrates and invertebrates, are in decline (see [1], [2], [3], [4], [5]). This page provides numerous links to information that can be used in designing and implementing pollinator-friendly stormwater BMPs.

Caution: Although the following links provide information on pollinator friendly practices, it is important to remember the primary function of a stormwater BMP is to manage stormwater. In particular, it is important to ensure that plants selected as being pollinator friendly must also function well within the stormwater practice. See Design criteria for bioretention and Minnesota plant lists for more information.

Pollinator friendly plants

• Metro Blooms: Planting for Pollinators: How Raingardens Can Help
• The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation: Pollinator plants - Great Lakes Region
• Pollinator Partnership: Ecoregional Planting Guides
• United States Department of Agriculture - Forest Service: Attracting Pollinators to Your Garden Using Native Plants
• National Wildlife Federation: Plants for Pollinators: A Collection of Favorites
• Native Plants and Wildlife Gardens: Top Five Wetland Edge Plants For Pollinators
• Deeproot: Want Pollinators? Plant Trees

Pollinator friendly practices

Although much of the information on these pages is general, many of the practices can be incorporated into vegetated stormwater BMPs.

• United States Department of Agriculture - Forest Service: Pollinator Friendly Practices
• North American Pollinator Protection Campaign: Pollinator Friendly Practices
• Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy: A landowner’s guide to pollinator-friendly practices

Case studies

• Andover garden tour is a pollinator-friendly showcase
• Andover Pollinator Awareness Project
• Penn State Extension
• Penn State University: Pollinator Garden Certification

Other links

• The Board of Water and Soil Resources has a Pollinator Plan that includes why pollinator populations and habitat restoration matter, current protection and restoration efforts, native seed mixes, a fact sheet and a solar site pollinator habitat assessment form.
• The Xerces Society: Targeted for gardeners, this site contains much useful general information on pollinators and managing for pollinators
• Pollinator Friendly Alliance