Jon Koch
Jon Koch
Director, City of Muscatine Water & Resource Recovery Facility
Muscatine Pollinator Project
Pollinator Beer!
Jon contacted us to get permission to use the Homegrown National Park™ signage and logo on some of his projects – just the kind of thing we want to happen! Jon got interested in planting native over 7 years ago after reading Bringing Nature Home and then hit the ground running with 10 other volunteers to start the Muscatine Pollinator Project. In short order they got permission to take over acres of old unused farm land that had gone to weed to create a 55 acre Pollinator Park inside the City limits of Muscatine.
Muscatine Pollinator Project finds creative ways to MAKE IT EASY to GET STARTED. They offer native plant FLATS comprising 12 different species, 6 plugs of each representing early, mid and late flowering species for $50 at their local farmer’s market.
Pollinator Park During Seeding
Pollinator Park Today
Houser Street Pollinator Park
Jon also noticed that the grounds of the Muscatine, IA wastewater facilities were green grass ecological wastelands. As Director of the City of Muscatine Water & Resource Recovery Facility he had the opportunity to replace the lawn with native plantings creating pollinator meadows. While there was some cost to making this conversion the longer-term cost savings were measurable in reduced labor, machine storage and maintenance. These benefits, including creating pollinator gardens, have proven to be a great success and these gardens are now ON THE MAP!
SEE WHAT’S BREWING: Contrary Brewery (love that name!) of Muscatine, Iowa introduced the now best-selling Iowa Pollinator Ale (now called Pollinator Honey Wheat) made from local honey in support of Muscatine Pollinator Project’s 2nd fundraiser.
Now that’s a good idea for local breweries!
Interested in starting a pollinator project in your community? For info contact Muscatine Pollinator Project on Facebook. …and then GET ON THE HOMEGROWN NATIONAL PARK MAP!
