Rogue Buzzway gardens grow with SOU partnership

The Rogue Buzzway – an interactive map that represents southern Oregon’s pollinator corridors – has bounced back following a steep decline caused by the 2020 Almeda Fire, under the leadership of recent SOU Environmental Science & Policy graduate Leo Helm.

Helm, who graduated last fall and is the latest in a succession of SOU interns to work on the Buzzway, has collaborated with the Pollinator Project Rogue Valley to create the Rogue Buzzway StoryMap, which celebrates nearly 120 self-certified pollinator gardens from Ashland to Grants Pass.

The Buzzway map helps visualize pollinator habitat connectivity – a vital element in helping native pollinators such as butterflies, bees and moths to navigate the urban landscape. The map also encourages people to create new gardens by showing areas with no certified pollinator habitat, and shares stories about how existing gardens were created.

“We made the Buzzway StoryMap to better communicate what the Buzzway is about,” Helm said. “It takes you through the map and really shows the kinds of gardens that are on there. It’s pretty inspiring.”

Gardens on the map include organic farms, city parks, front yards and gardens planted by PPRV as a part of its “From Fire to Flowers” pollinator garden program, which brought pollinator gardens to people affected by the 2020 Almeda fire.

Colorful pollinator plantings on the SOU campus are not yet included on the map, but Helm and others at the PPRV plan to work with the university and city of Ashland to fill in the map with existing local gardens.

The Rogue Buzzway was created after the PPRV approached SOU associate professor Jamie Trammel in 2016 about mapping the Rogue Valley’s pollinator gardens. Trammel and then-SOU student Ollie Bucolo and Dr. Jamie Trammell created the map, whose scope and capabilities have grown over the years with the contributions of other Environmental Science & Policy interns.

Helm said he hopes more interns will step forward in the future to help the Buzzway continue to grow.

“It’s really cool to be a part of a long-standing project like this,” he said. “We keep finding new uses for the Buzzway and ways to improve it. It’s been a valuable experience for me and I’m excited to see what happens to the Buzzway map once someone else inherits it.”

Students can also volunteer with the Pollinator Pals educational program or in PPRV’s demonstration garden in Phoenix, or put their knowledge to work with videography, photography, social media, graphic design, writing newsletters or helping to maintain and update the organization’s website.