Learn about Harrisonburg’s Pollinator-Friendly City and Urban Forestry programs

Headwaters Chapter members will be getting together on Saturday, January 27, from 11am-2pm in the Houff Student Center at Blue Ridge Community College in Weyers Cave for our Annual Meeting. There will be potluck lunch, some CE, a review of all our wonderful achievements from 2023, sneak previews of things to come in 2024, elections for the board, and plenty of time to catch up and celebrate the new year! – HMN President Peggy Plass

Our continuing education speaker at this year’s HMN Annual Meeting on Saturday, January 27, is Jeremy Harold, the City of Harrisonburg’s Greenspace Manager. Jeremy will talk with us about Harrisonburg’s Pollinator-Friendly City and Urban Forestry programs, providing an overview of their histories, current and future initiatives, best practices, lessons learned, and opportunities for citizen support and involvement.

The City’s Pollinator Program includes creating pollinator spaces consisting of native plantings on public grounds that, collectively, create city-wide pollinator corridors. These spaces are important because pollinators are facing global declines due to habitat loss, poor nutrition, and pesticide exposure.

Through Harrisonburg’s Urban Forestry Program, City staff work to increase tree canopy in Harrisonburg, improving the air we breathe, reducing urban noise, filtering our water, helping control stormwater runoff, providing shade and habitat for a wide variety of living things, and enhancing the beauty of our urban landscapes.

– Scott Jost, Cohort 8, December 2023

• https://www.harrisonburgva.gov/pollinators
• https://www.harrisonburgva.gov/urban-forestry-program