The Mayors Innovation Project would like to wish you and your community a happy Earth Day! To celebrate, we’re lifting up the great work of one of our member cities, Somerville, MA, as they work to increase biodiversity and protect vulnerable species and habitats! Last year, the City of Somerville passed its Pollinator Action Plan, sharing how the City, local businesses, and residents can take action to support pollinators. We had the privilege of sitting down with Mayor Ballantyne to discuss how the plan was shaped and how mayoral leadership can turn innovative ideas into action.
What was the inspiration behind the Pollinator Action Plan?
We’re in a crisis with our biodiversity. The natural environment, in the decades I’ve lived in my house – the bugs, the bees, the ants – have changed. There’s less of them. The wonderful thing about Somerville is we have a lot of people with many thoughts and ideas. A few years ago, at the request of activists, we passed a native species ordinance. We started with controlling what the city owns and asked ourselves how to increase biodiversity and address invasive species. Then we were trying to figure out: how do we influence the rest of the city? How do you tell private property owners what they need to do? It’s through education. We zoomed out and used science and data to identify the biodiversity we have, catalog it, and decide the steps we can take to support biodiversity.
Can you please describe how the Pollinator Action Plan passed and how it operates?
The wonderful thing about Somerville is we have this amazing brain trust with the residents that live here and also with the staff. Everybody comes to the table with different starting points. We hired scientists to work with us, collected data, and then shared it to inform our discussions. The idea was that everybody who felt passionate about this or was impacted would have a seat at the table and contribute to the development of the plan. We formed a committee to inform and develop the plan.
The plan itself is like a recipe book that we put together to educate residents on how to start a pollinator garden. It provides an exhaustive list of plants and designs, including recipe cards, that residents can use to design their garden. To start, we planted one in front of city hall. The goal of that is to create the best biodiversity for the city of Somerville. We’re trying to educate and change not only what we do on public land but also inspire private property owners. This is the first plan of its kind in a densely populated city. It’s unique because it brought science and local data together. Now we know which pollinators exist in Somerville, which pollinators are endangered, and how and what to plant to support them. We’re excited to see the progress this year and to see how gardens will evolve.
As Mayor, what were the main challenges to getting the plan in place?
When you’re bringing groups of people together, they are at different starting points. Some of the committee members were thinking about things differently. Having scientists on the committee and providing the data helped because they could hear from all sides. You have to see how the group is going to work. Some people might say, you have to do all of this now, but it might take a little bit longer to convert ideas into a plan or plans into action. We also have to consider the budget. In this case, it’s not just the municipal budget, it’s people’s personal budgets to fund their gardens. Bringing people together was really important, and we’ve gotten great feedback. We’re excited to measure the progress over time.
What learning lessons would you offer to other mayors?
I certainly feel that mayors can have an impact. I’ve been the lead on major sustainability and environmental pushes in Somerville over the last decade and municipal policies and plans are an important tool and guideline for the biodiversity crisis. For us, it started with the native species ordinance and then the question was: how do you spread that across the city? We chose a more scientific way. Messaging is also important, and for this plan it started with saying we want more butterflies, we want more bees. Starting together with people and shared values can help raise awareness and shift the way things are done.
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Check out Somerville’s full Pollinator Action Plan here. In addition to this plan, the City is also using more natural elements, trying to get people to de-pave their yards and plant more greenery to cool down. Under Mayor Ballantyne’s leadership, Somerville has planted 1,300 trees in just a two year period.