![]() You have your taller flowers that are like the canopy and then your mid-level and then the ground covers that will cover the soil. Johnson, a landscape architect by training, encourages gardeners to “think about your planting like a forest. ![]() It is Johnson’s hope that visitors understand that regardless of the size of their backyard or balcony, they can create “viable and diverse habitats to support an array of different types of animals.” The pod features three different habitat types that individuals can replicate in their own outdoor spaces including a colorful, perennial wildflower bed, a small meadow with native grasses surrounded by low shrubs, and a planting utilizing trees. Johnson said the goal is to “transform the experience of this park and turn it into a demonstration garden to talk to people about different types of habitat creation, why pollinators are important, and what we can do to better support them.” However, this spring, Memphis River Parks Partnership hosted a volunteer planting event. The Pollinator Pod near Beale Street Landing has existed in multiple forms since the Landing’s construction. This year there have been multiple tree planting events along the bluff and Mud Island’s south lawn to “invest in future shade in this extremely exposed stretch of the loop trail.” Thousands more trees will be planted in Tom Lee Park as the project gets closer to completion. As she said, they are “studying what we have now with an eye to making the park more ecologically resilient.” The census will help Johnson plan strategically for the future by identifying where the canopy may be aging out or where limited diversity makes them vulnerable to disease pressure and pests. They are geolocating each tree, identifying its species, scale, and general health condition, to get a snapshot of the park now. One project this summer is a census of all the trees in the entire park system, which is being undertaken by two summer interns. “The incremental phasing has been important to make sure that field operations can adapt and hire as needed to make sure that maintenance practices evolve…to make sure we can take care of these landscapes.” For decades, the parks’ landscapes were “a sea of lawn,” according to Johnson, “which is not ecologically supportive.” MRPP is currently investing in holistically diversifying the landscape in ways that “balance the needs for views and flexible use but also can support the different wildlife coming up and down the river.” The MRPP parks are at a significant spot – the confluence of the Mississippi and Wolf Rivers via the Wolf River Harbor. Making the riverfront more resilient has potential to benefit both wildlife and humans. Domestic river cruises are currently surpassing pre-pandemic levels. In 2018, the Port of Memphis, the fifth largest inland port in the United States, and the businesses under its jurisdiction contributed an estimated $9.27 billion to the economy. The Mississippi River contributes an estimated $400 billion to the national economy annually, and over 12 million people live within the river basin. It’s not just about the birds and butterflies. The Audubon Society’s recently launched study of this area shows that the land around Memphis is extremely challenged ecologically. The LMR is part of the Mississippi Flyway, an essential migration route for monarch butterflies and over 325 bird species that stretches from central Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. Memphis sits on the Lower Mississippi River (LMR), defined by the Audubon Society as the section of the Mississippi River Basin and watersheds that stretch from St. When ecosystems cannot recover, humans, as well as wildlife, are in danger of losing benefits ranging from clean water to aesthetics. Those disturbances can be natural – flooding, tornadoes, and fires – or due to human influences – overfishing, deforestation, and agricultural runoff. Economics and Biodiversity along the FlywayĮnvironmental resilience is the ability of an ecosystem to continue functioning amid and recover from a disturbance.
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