As we work to conserve and restore wildlife and ecosystems, urban areas become progressively more important areas of focus. Denver Botanic Gardens has partnered with the Colorado Golf Association to boost biodiversity on CommonGround Golf Course, located on the former Lowry Air Force Base straddling the cities of Aurora and Denver. While the golf course is already home to deer, coyotes, hawks and other wildlife, we aim to increase native plant diversity in these areas to create better habitats, especially for pollinators.
Following a floristic inventory of the golf course in 2022, we trialed a seeding experiment in the rough areas to enhance plant diversity. We are testing methods that utilize existing course equipment and can be easily implemented at other sites. Without removing the existing turf, we created minimal soil disturbance through harrowing and aerating before scattering a native forb (flowering plant) seed mix in December 2022. While still early, results suggest this low-impact approach is successfully promoting forb germination. To further support establishment, we are also mowing to prevent non-native grasses from going to seed and encourage continued growth of the native forbs.
Last summer, we observed pollinators to establish baseline data for the site and see if our initial efforts are having an impact on their visitation. Even with minimal native forb growth in these plots, both bee activity and overall pollinator visitations rose. Surprisingly, despite the overall low density of plants that emerged from the seeding treatment, there was a significant increase in pollinators observed relative to the unseeded plots. This shows that even a modest increase in forbs can improve pollinator numbers. Ideally, we would see a greater visual impact and higher density of native plants in the restoration plots. However, this pilot experiment demonstrates that this relatively easy and inexpensive way to improve habitat works for pollinators. This technique could be useful in areas where additional site preparation is not feasible or as a temporary solution until larger restoration and clearing of existing vegetation can take place. We will continue developing methods that improve habitat.