• Home
  • News
    • Politics & Government
    • Business & Economy
    • Crime / Courts
    • Health / Medicine
  • Sports
    • High School Sports
    • Radio Iowa Poll
  • Affiliates
    • Affiliate Support Page
  • Contact Us
    • Reporters

Radio Iowa

Iowa's Radio News Network

You are here: Home / News / Cedar Rapids plans to plant wildflowers to help bees

Cedar Rapids plans to plant wildflowers to help bees

February 27, 2017 By Dar Danielson

Iowa’s second largest city is planning to convert over 1,000 acres of land to wildflowers and prairie grasses, in an effort boost the population of pollinators, such as the honeybee.

Cedar Rapids Park Superintendent Daniel Gibbins says Iowa, at one time, was 70-percent prairie.

“Most of the native habitat for pollinators and a lot of other species has been lost,” Gibbins said. “We wanted to have an initiative that didn’t just show people the way to do things that are beneficial environmentally, we really wanted to do it in large quantities to really help solve this problem.”

Entomologists blame the loss of honeybees, monarch butterflies, and other critical pollinators on various pesticides and climate change. The project in Cedar Rapids will begin in the spring with the seeding of 188 acres of unused public land, including park corners, golf courses, sewage ditches, water retention basins, and roadway medians.

“One of the neat things about this initiative is that it’s outside of city or county budgets,” Gibbins said. “We’re looking at grants and private donations, especially through help from the Monarch Research Foundation nonprofit, which is raising private money for us.” The State of Iowa allocated over $180,000 to help launch the project, which carries a total price tag of nearly $1 million.

“You can envision about $1,000 per acre to convert over to prairie,” Gibbins said. “We have developed our own seed mix and it’s rich in wildflowers. It’s really blended so the grasses don’t choke out the wildflowers after a number of years.” The initiative is projected to be completed over the course of five years.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Filed Under: News, Outdoors

Featured Stories

Summit has easements for 20% of carbon pipeline route through Iowa

Morel mushroom hunters on hold without warmer conditions

Trinity Health aquiring all MercyOne health properties

Field of Dreams site developer wants to bid on state baseball, softball tournaments

Governor gets bill targeting Iowa bars deemed ‘public safety nuisance’

TwitterFacebook
Tweets by RadioIowa

Radio Iowa/Baseball Coaches Association High School Poll 5/16/22

Iowa assistant coach Kirk Speraw to retire

Northern Iowa prepares for Missouri Valley Conference softball tournament

T.J. Otzelberger announces staff changes at Iowa State

Iowa State adds transfer guard

More Sports

eNews and Updates

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Archives

Copyright © 2022 ยท Learfield News & Ag, LLC